“No Sense In Prolonging The Obvious”
January 21st, 2024
Decision didn’t jibe with the moment.
Joe is addressing this because it stuck in the craw of a lot of Bucs fans watching the final minute of today’s gut-wrenching loss in Detroit, and Joe admits to being bewildered in the moment.
With 34 seconds remaining, Lions QB Jared Goff took a knee at the Bucs’ 30 yard line after a third-down play and the Lions leading by eight points. Tampa Bay had a timeout in their pocket but Todd Bowles didn’t call it. Game over.
What the hell was that?
Bowles had a chance to make the Lions either attempt a field goal or a punt, or try to run a bunch of time off the clock with a scramble play before the Bucs would take over on downs. Instead, Bowles threw in the towel.
After the game, Bowles was asked about the decision and said there was “no sense in prolonging the obvious,” as he believed the Bucs had no chance to win.
Joe gets what Bowles allegedly was thinking, but Joe is the kind of person wired to play until a game’s final breath of life is extinguished. Again, this was a one-score game in the playoffs. All that fight the Bucs showed today, and Bowles pulled the plug earlier than he had to.
Miracles happen in sports. Yeah, the odds were miniscule, but this was the end of the season. Joe suspects if Bowles left the decision up to his team captains, every last one of them would have wanted the ball back.
Joe wonders if Bowles forgot about the timeout in the emotion of the moment, kind of like Tom Brady forgetting what down it was three seasons ago during a late-fourth-quarter drive against the Bears.
If Joe’s last name were Glazer, Joe would catch up to Bowles later this month and gently advise him that the Buccaneers’ paying customers — and the guys signing the checks — expect 60 minutes of football in a one-score playoff game.
Pro Football Hall of Fame selector Gary Myers weighed in on this subject, as well.
Why did Todd Bowles end the game with a timeout in his pocket in a one-score game? If he called TO after third down ad Goff's third kneel down, about 28 seconds would have been on clock with ball at Bucs 30. That would have forced Dan Campbell to make a decision: kick FG, punt or…
— Gary Myers (@GaryMyersNY) January 21, 2024
January 21st, 2024 at 8:16 pm
He saves them for Xmas…
January 21st, 2024 at 8:17 pm
Joe is as dumb as 90 percent of the posters here.
January 21st, 2024 at 8:20 pm
Resign Mayfield, Winfield, Evans, and David. Cut Shaq Barrett and let White walk. Then begin the process of improving on each side of the line. We might be able to get a decent third receiver from the rookies we have. But we have to get a great edge rusher (Jared Verse) and continue to re-build the OL and Secondary.
January 21st, 2024 at 8:20 pm
How about the 2nd Quarter when they had a 4 and less than 1? Detroit just had a long drive for a TD. This was a 3 and out. Analytics said, go for it. Bucs had all three OT. Why not call a time out? Talk it over and at least give your defense an extra rest.
Bowles has areas to improve on. One is the use of TO.
January 21st, 2024 at 8:20 pm
That’s the kind of coach you get when you don’t interview for the best available. I bet we see more like that next year. If baker is signed for big $ there will be less talent and less wins for this team. It’s a bucks life.
January 21st, 2024 at 8:22 pm
Biggest dead cap space in the NFL.
Great season. Don’t hate. They fought their a**es off all season. Came up just short.
Hope Baker is back next year, and I hope there’s a lot less haters.
Go Bucs!!!
January 21st, 2024 at 8:23 pm
The team won despite bowles not because of him
If Bowles is paid by the Bucs next season and Baker isn’t, someone is wrong.
One guy cried at the end and one guy said no point.
The crappist thing the Bucs ever did was attack the knee down with Shiano, bush league. The second worst, was letting a knee besat then without a fight, shameful.
January 21st, 2024 at 8:23 pm
Just like he would not go for a fourth and one. LOSER attitude. Sometimes a coach can help the fight in the dog or destroy it.
January 21st, 2024 at 8:26 pm
Bowles is bowles…..great in some areas, horrible in others. He needs to be DC and we find another, more competent HC. But that wont happen unfortunately
January 21st, 2024 at 8:29 pm
Well said, Rusty.
January 21st, 2024 at 8:37 pm
thanks for this–please address this with Todd Bowles! We need O-line, quarterback in later rounds (J-Trav?) pass rusher in FA
January 21st, 2024 at 8:38 pm
Not the biggest fan of Bowles but at the end of the day this team fought hard. To win 6 out of your last 7 and a division and a playoff game with 80 plus million in dead cap space. You can’t really be that down on them. They went a lot further than I thought they would. The schedule is brutal next year for us so if Bowles does not have it together next season I am sure he will be gone.
January 21st, 2024 at 8:41 pm
I am not a Bowles fan, but he has earned my respect and impressed how the team finished.
To finish the season 6-2. Winning the division, thumping the Eagles and being a few plays away from the NFC Championship game.
Not many teams can go from 4-7 and reach the divisional playoffs. That takes a combination of good coaching and players buying into the system.
The Eagles home game was one of the best games I have attended. Fairly close to the first Super Bowl run and the Lions game to close out the sombrero.
Very proud of the Bucs.
January 21st, 2024 at 8:41 pm
“””””After the game, Bowles was asked about the decision and said there was “no sense in prolonging the obvious,” as he believed the Bucs had no chance to win.””””””
THIS! This is the reason that he has never scored better than ‘little confidence’ and has averaged ‘no confidence’ from me in the weekly confidence poll.
HE DOESN’T BELIEVE!
I would hate to play for a coach that doesn’t believe HIS team can win.
While not happy with the inevitable announcement that Bowles would be retained, the past two games were better played and better prepared for than any other game this season. I could live with the off season hope that Bowles had finally turned the corner.
That statement, however, says that he hasn’t.
Briefly off the fire Bowles train immediately after the past two games……. Count me back on it, shoveling as much coal as I can!!!
January 21st, 2024 at 8:41 pm
We May see a major dumpster fire of letting people go in the coming months for rebuilding.
ME13 will command a very high contract $$$$$ …..which the Bucs don’t have.
LVD should retire a Buc at all costs…..that man deserves it
Dump DW45, Vita, and Shaq Barrett…..all 3 were nonfactors in the game today.
Baker will command atleast 30 Mil a year……even though he’s earned it, I would think twice about resigning him……seriously
January 21st, 2024 at 8:46 pm
Bowles really needs to focus on coaching and game management if he wants to keep his job. Plan and simple. He’s made a shi t ton of mistakes.
January 21st, 2024 at 8:47 pm
Someone explain the 2 point attempt to me? I know some are you are going to b#$ch about the so called PI but Bakers side arm throw he was down and a no call. Clearly Bowles didn’t want to potentially go into OT.
January 21st, 2024 at 8:48 pm
Because the only thing our QB1 was going to do was throw another pick, like he did before.
January 21st, 2024 at 8:49 pm
Dudes just not that guy. He’s so stubborn. Goes right back to playing zone after we crush the eagles. He just doesn’t get it. Only a fool would let these guys run in space like we did. We need a major defense overhaul. Edge, secondary. Safety.
Online entire left side minus Tristan.
January 21st, 2024 at 8:50 pm
“Joes wired to play to the games final breathe”
Every guy watching from the couch is wired that way.
Glad Coach Bowles let the game end gracefully, instead of dragging out what was inevitable.
It was an incredible season. The Bucs accomplished so much more than I had expected.
For sure,there are areas to improve.
But I have confidence in both Coach and QB going forward.
The Bucs have a great future going forward. I cant wait to see it!
January 21st, 2024 at 8:50 pm
Burn the last timeout and you get the ball at the 10 on a fair catch with 34 seconds. It’s not the same thing as Kansas City 13 second drive only needing a Field Goal and having two time outs to work with.
Assuming they give Bucs short and middle a couple times you might get into range before 0:00 for Mayfield to launch it 70 yards but you know there would not be a PI on a Hail Mary.
Lions could have just as well ran it down the Bucs throat and killed the clock with a first down.
Can dig all season to explain it away but why not see it Bowles way. Mayfield screwed the pooch on the most important drive of the season.
January 21st, 2024 at 8:51 pm
Cut the fat. If you aren’t worth your contract then you go. Resign Baker and improve OLine to help his inconsistency. Resign Wirfs, Evans and Winfield. Draft/FA to get pass rush and Oline.
Most importantly since it seems Bowles is staying, for the love of God, send Bowles to a class about clock management.
January 21st, 2024 at 8:52 pm
Some of you clowns on here are really STUPID, but I know Joe needs the $$$$$clicks. The Lions’ coach could have pulled a Sean Payton, and added on 3 more points even though the game was in his bag. He didn’t. He showed respect for Bowles and the Bucs. Get with it, you dummies!! Now, Lions have to go to Frisco. Good luck cos they’re going to need it. Who cares about who gets paid whatever? That’s Licht’s job and he’s damned good at it. Signing off until next August. orlbucfan
January 21st, 2024 at 8:53 pm
Loser mentality. It also creeps into the team.
He will keep cashing his paychecks and this team will keep being mediocre
January 21st, 2024 at 8:56 pm
As the president of the Trask Mob I feel its necessary to address this season.
We said best case scenario was winning the division by default – Happened
We said Bucs would be effed with a low draft pick – Happened
We said Bucs would get bounced in the 1st round of the playoffs – actually didn’t happen thanks to a crumbling Eagles team that couldn’t cover or tackle. Instead they got bounced the following week against Detroit.
We said Bucs would then be forced into resigning Mayfield – or if he did decently risk losing him in free agency while still not developing Kyle Trask – remains to be seen.
Bucs raised a banner – which is cool. That’s on the record books.
Ultimately I think think the Bucs finished as one of the best 10 teams in the league – which is way better than the 20-24ish I thought they would finish as.
Baker outperformed my expectations – 9th in total passing. 7th in TDs. 7th in attempts with only 10 INTs
I cannot deny he finished as a top 10 QB.
At the end the team really gelled. At the end of the season they were playing better than their record for sure.
You have to bring back Bowles and Baker if you can.
With his numbers he’s going to command a big contract and if you give it to him – you have to hope he keeps producing at this level.
January 21st, 2024 at 8:57 pm
So proud of the coach and the team wish Tampa fans were as fully behind and supportive of the team as Lions fans. Too bad. They fought hard today but the loss of Dean and Diaby was too much to overcome.
January 21st, 2024 at 8:59 pm
I don’t understand how people are letting him off the hook this easily. It’s called a hail Mary for a reason and we would have prolly had an opportunity to put one or two of them up in the air. Long odds of it working but we’ve seen it happen. Add a two point conversion scored with White up the gut and we are in OT.
I think this quit mentality is an ‘obvious’ problem and it begins with coaching. This has to change
January 21st, 2024 at 9:00 pm
I think he went for 2 to tie the spread of 6. I think he didn’t call time out to force a potential field goal to minimize the point differential. Why? Because our fan base doesn’t appreciate what he’s accomplished so he needs to consider raw data points instead of doing what’s right – it’s the fault of the fans. It’s pathetic to think that they say he won the division in 2022 with a losing record when he benched the starters after the first quarter. Had the starters played then were 9-8 last year instead of 8-9….division winners that year regardless but our fans minimize it all.
January 21st, 2024 at 9:02 pm
I get what you are saying but I went absolutely berserk when he went for two points when we scored to put us behind by one touchdown. Why would you make your team have to go for two again if you score to tie the game up. It was mind boggling. I think overall Bowles has done an excellent job this year and deserves another year but he has had a couple of decisions this year that were head scratchers.
January 21st, 2024 at 9:06 pm
I saw:
“No Sense In Prolonging The Obvious”
and got super excited… I thought the next phrase was Bowels FIRED!!!
January 21st, 2024 at 9:07 pm
The lions taking a knee sounds like a mercy killing instead of running up the score like the slimy saints did to the falcons. Bowles showed class and accepted defeat gracefully. I rather say we lost by one score than by two scores because Todd Bowles wanted to call a timeout so the other team can score more points from kicking a field goal
January 21st, 2024 at 9:10 pm
Bowles needs to go or move him to DC.
January 21st, 2024 at 9:10 pm
Keep Baker
FIRE Bowles
January 21st, 2024 at 9:11 pm
It was over.
January 21st, 2024 at 9:13 pm
I felt we should have gone on 4th down before the final Detroit touchdown. Yes we were backed up, but we weren’t showing signs of slowing their offense down at that time. We needed to match scores. I don’t think Bowles is a bad as he seems, but I just want a more aggressive coach and a more aggressive scheme
January 21st, 2024 at 9:13 pm
@orlbucfan
I think you’ve missed the point.
Regardless of what the final outcome might could have been, good or bad,… Bowles QUIT before the game was over. AND verbally admitted that he QUIT before the end of the game.
Did you notice the ‘key’ words?
He has displayed this attitude throughout the entire season.
Even if we had won, his quote should be grounds for dismissal.
January 21st, 2024 at 9:16 pm
Maybe that is what Licht is thinking also…. why prolong the obvious with Coach Bowles.
January 21st, 2024 at 9:17 pm
Second guessers are always 100% right, Right? I wonder if Brady in his prime would have settled for the white flag routine. Anyway, I love the Bucs and I am a Baker fan always. He has the heart of a champion and the Bucs should be in contention again next season. For the past four years it has really been fun.
Keeping it real in Ireland.
January 21st, 2024 at 9:18 pm
Don’t agree with it either. Fight the fight until the end. But he saved his ass with the amazing stretch. I’m excited for the day after presser. Will be a fun offseason Bucs fans. Keep Evans David and Winfield at all cost.
January 21st, 2024 at 9:19 pm
Would be nice if they would block for Baker. If Evans is coming back he needs to work on catching the ball still because he’s dropped like eight balls in the last two games.
January 21st, 2024 at 9:21 pm
Joe,
Can you please remove Erik the viking from this blog?
I see no reason to endure such dank racist remarks.
January 21st, 2024 at 9:23 pm
Man maybe Todd Monken should get an interview for HC. We need him back to teach these guys how to catch.
January 21st, 2024 at 9:26 pm
The game was over before he had to make that decision. Defense was depleted and the team was defeated. No issue with that decision at all. There can still be honor in sport. GO BUCS!!
January 21st, 2024 at 9:27 pm
This. Is. bowles!!!
This is what we get. I’m not convinced he knows what a timeout is. As someone said, we win in spite of him, not because of him. And everyone talking about we “exceeded expectations” this year, whose expectations? Did you listen to Peter King and think we were only gonna win 2 games this season? Did you bet the under on the 6.5 wins in Vegas? I NEVER expected us to be that bad. We’re not that bad. I had us pegged at 7 or 8 wins this season. You may say “hey, we exceeded even your expectations, what gives?” What gives is my expectation included bowles’ terrible coaching. And my expectation isn’t the same as what I’m willing to accept. bowles is a career below 42% record head coach. 17-17 regular season 1-2 postseason with Bucs (in the WORST DIVISION IN THE LEAGUE BOTH YEARS). This is UNACCEPTABLE!!! And he doesn’t even understand or acknowledge the issues (since most of them are his fault), so I have NO confidence he can fix them. He has to go. If we don’t get our head out of you know where, the other teams in this division are gonna get their S together and we’re gonna be the worst team in the worst division. I don’t want the scrubby underdog coach you have to hope after 6 years as HC at 60 whatever years old is gonna finally figure it out. I want the young coach that knows how the game is played in 2024 and is willing to go take the win, not be reactive and submissive (like D coaches are prone to be). This is embarrassing. Some of you seem more willing to root for the coach than the team. I want what’s best for the BUCS, not bowles.
#stillFIREbowles #stillNOconfidence
January 21st, 2024 at 9:27 pm
How does EricTheViking’s post not get moderated?? Wow what an imbecile.
January 21st, 2024 at 9:28 pm
Gotta move on from Bowles. It’s an absolute must but I fear the cowardly Glazers will stand pat.
January 21st, 2024 at 9:31 pm
God, we have some of the stupidest posters in the NFL. And Mr. Viking, what’s up with the racist comment? Surprised Joe lets it stand.
January 21st, 2024 at 9:35 pm
wow this scenario is wild and will haunt everyone for the entire offseason…
could this put bowles back on the hot seat…?
or is bowles quietly looking to get fired and just collect years of free paychecks – and get out of tampa by kind of quiting on his team, fans, mgmt. and ownership in a playoff game…???
January 21st, 2024 at 9:37 pm
honestly i didn’t even realize this, as i had on my fan cap 100% of the game…
as opposed to wearing my coaches cap at that point in the game – where you’d be trying to figure out every last scenario to eek out a win
January 21st, 2024 at 9:43 pm
Has Bowles been fired yet?
January 21st, 2024 at 9:43 pm
Todd Bowles needs to be told what to do as he has done these mistakes in the past
January 21st, 2024 at 9:44 pm
Steven007
Don’t worry; he’ll get blocked for that dumb sh*t.
January 21st, 2024 at 9:48 pm
Paratrooper said this: Most importantly since it seems Bowles is staying, for the love of God, send Bowles to a class about clock management. — lol–he needs to get educated up in the off season. Certainly he really does–shame we are stuck with this.
January 21st, 2024 at 9:48 pm
Funny, I can’t cough on this site, but that racist bullsh*t slides through easily.
January 21st, 2024 at 9:48 pm
At least were not Buffalo
January 21st, 2024 at 9:49 pm
Lol, in moderation
January 21st, 2024 at 9:52 pm
These types of posts are very interesting because calling that timeout really doesn’t change the outcome what so ever. Joe has been around enough football to know that. This type of article seems like click-bait, and reeks of joe just not liking Bowels and having alt motives.
January 21st, 2024 at 9:53 pm
The real miracle of the game is that Detroit is going to the championship game.
Their players smelled destiny and were not going to be denied. They played harder than the Bucs and would have continued to.
Their kicker would have kicked an eighty yard FG to make it happen. Their players would have hurt anyone in their way.
I am still not a real Baker fan, but hat is off to him and the team, they played hard and came close, close enough for people to question these things.
With hat in hand I will bow to the Lions. They were not just playing a game, they were asserting their call to make Detroit a real team, to define a destiny for themselves and their fans.
January 21st, 2024 at 9:54 pm
Send the viking to Minnesota. No place for horn hats or racial comments here.
January 21st, 2024 at 10:05 pm
Fire every coach that doesnt win the superbowl! Unacceptable! – Bucs fan logic
January 21st, 2024 at 10:06 pm
Given Bowles track record of screwing-up with time-outs, it’s laughable to see the focus of this thread being about defending Bowles’ “decision.” C’mon, What decision? He obviously didn’t even think about using a time-out; forgot all about it.
Anyone notice that quick touchdown by the Lions (What was it: like five passes for a touchdown?) Was that the “Bowles defense genius” at work? Was that like the “49 seconds left game” that Bowles personally blew with his dumb-a$$ed “pull back, zone defense”? Huh?! In a tie game with over a quarter to play? How far in the stupid-meter does it take before a real coach is brought-in?
Ya, defense: three uncontested edge-rush sacks; they just ran right in, and no one to block them. Isn’t Bowles supposed to.notice, and ya know, tell the defense to cover this blatant screw-up? It went on throughout the entire game. Did Bowles not even notice? Holly crap!
And there are actually people defending this imbecile?
Please God, fire Bowles so I’ll have a team to root for next year.
January 21st, 2024 at 10:09 pm
No sense in complaining about Bowles. He isn’t going anywhere. The media has gloated over Bowles and what he has done with a team that was expected not to be over .500 wins this season. The Glazers are definitely not going to fire him. Maybe they demote Bowles to DC and hire Belichick using his resume as a HOF HC to justify the demotion, but I seriously doubt it. At least we have something to be excited about next season now the Superbowl checks are paid in full. We can actually retain our top talent and acquire depth in the trenches where we need it.
January 21st, 2024 at 10:11 pm
I am still so confused. There should not have been that much time left. At best there would have been under 5 seconds at best. If Bowles had a epic failure not using that timeout out then Campbell had a even bigger error not running the clock 40 seconds each time after kneel down
Bowles coached team to 2nd round. He is the coach moving foward because we won… we made the final 8 and had a shot.. that’s enough
January 21st, 2024 at 10:17 pm
Bowles lacks the fire in his belly to be a great Head Coach. It’s time for hime to go because he will never do better than he did this season. He reached his level of incompetence. A lot of good candidates available to coach this team. I’d give Canales more time as OC though.
January 21st, 2024 at 10:19 pm
Bowels deserves to keep his job but this is the most disappointing answer he could have given. I want a team to fight every second on that field. Everyone is paid too much not to. That was your last 40 seconds of the season. You can’t just lay down if you still got a mathematical chance in the game. Even if the odds are greatly against you. You don’t just mail it in
So proud of this team and the fight they showed this season. We were supposed to have a top ten pick and instead they just competed in a divisonal round playoff game. This team is developing a winning culture but this type of answer puts a bit of a damper on it.
January 21st, 2024 at 10:20 pm
Bowles* lol my bad
January 21st, 2024 at 10:26 pm
“No sense in prolonging the obvious”, and what SHOULD be obvious is the need for the long overdue coaching and overdue deadwood roster upgrades, the overdue firing of a coach who won’t even fight to the very last second.
This team, which many of us expected to be a .500 proposition, DID overachieve, by a few, and there were many fortunate outside factors that helped them: the weakest division in the NFL and matchups at the end with overrated teams on the decline. But there was commendable energy on offense, from scrappy-but-not great Mayfield, and scrappy-rookie-still not great OC Rah Rah Canales. This energy helped fuel a well-timed surge—but was all ultimately wasted with key in-game blunders.
And the blunders themselves can each be traced to some original problems that we have been calling out all season. This OL gave up sacks. Mayfield’s picks…comes with the turf, Mayfield being streaky and up and down at the most critical moments. Mistakes in the secondary, Dean, etc. The pass rush, JTS, Shaq, a problem all season. Bowles and Canales did not make adjustments that could have won the game. And a host of intangibles, notably the fact that the Lions fought harder, were coached better, and are more talented and consistent across the board. Bowles gave up those final seconds, even if symbolic, because that is who he is.
Is the Bucs brass going to make the “obvious” changes? Or will they let the late season surge justify keeping the people and aspects of this team that are not championship caliber?
January 21st, 2024 at 10:29 pm
bowels is a coward. Baker is the reason we got as far as we did.
January 21st, 2024 at 10:30 pm
With The Bowles decision in question, with a time out in your pocket and the clock being what it was,…..OMG, he can’t let it go,…..unbelievable.
He’s our Coach next year but,……????
January 21st, 2024 at 10:31 pm
The NFC South is going to be very different next year, all the other teams will have higher draft picks than we do , Belichick and Harbough have already interviewed at Atlanta , Belichick twice , and Canales has interviewed at Carolina and the season isn’t even over yet , the other teams have plenty of money and owners who are not shy about going after free agents from other teams including ours , that’s going to leave us with some hard decisions to make , with the upgrade in head coaches at other teams , can our sub.500 career win head coach compete? Can our sub.500 career win quarterback miraculously, after seven years and four teams , become more than a journeyman, and can we afford to risk the necessary investments in time and money to find out , or should we use our resources to rebuild what we have , our special teams and kicking game have been outstanding all year, our defense is good but does need some help , the offense is where the work needs to be done , 20 points per game simply will not cut it, so we cannot afford to keep a mediocre quarterback looking for a big bucks, multi year contract , that would sink us , We don’t have the time or the money , we have two good low cost quarterbacks , that we need to see what they can do, that money would be better spent , keeping the best receivers and running backs we can , and concentrating on help with the offensive line , this should allow us to escape from cap hell more quickly and give us the time to find out what we really have while remaining somewhat competitive , it worked at Houston, it can work with us.
January 21st, 2024 at 10:39 pm
Love the buc’s ,but done with play it safe bowles . Not excited for next year as long as he is coach .sorry to say but true .he has no killer instinct. No plan to expose there 27 th. Pass defence! Was Godwin even in the game ? His targets are way down ! It all starts with coaching .
January 21st, 2024 at 11:04 pm
This is why I vote no confidence in Todd. He is just too passive to be a successful (Super Bowl winning) head coach. While I was hard on Dave C in the beginning of the season, he did show improvement and I’ll take it.
I know baker will be back, I know Dave C will be back, and I know Todd will be back. While it bugs me that Todd is hc for another year, I guess I will just get over it and hope I am wrong.
I’ll continue to look at the glass as half full. The Bucs were 4-7 at one point and I was screaming for the team to pack it in for the season. From there, they kept fighting and was 1 quarter away from the nfc championship game. I would have never thought that if you had told me when they were 4-7.
January 21st, 2024 at 11:11 pm
It was over. Stop crying
January 21st, 2024 at 11:18 pm
EricTheViking just lost all respect in my eyes.
January 21st, 2024 at 11:24 pm
It wasn’t over and then bowles decided it was over. Before it was over. Even my high school coach would have not just rolled over like this. Come on man.
January 21st, 2024 at 11:28 pm
Earlier this week a friend,making a jab at me, text me saying most Bucs fans looked like the fan in JoeBucsfan banner on the site. I’m curious if that statement has any truth to it compared to MOST commits made by ErictheViking?? I ignore most of them ,but it’s CLEAR the level of dislike for Tod’s Bowles in thus fanbase goes beyond coaching!! Tar Baby HUH🧐
January 21st, 2024 at 11:38 pm
So, season is over.
In my opinion, Baker Mayfield earned a contract…but…I don’t see us affording him without hurting his chances to succeed by letting important talent go.
One thing Baker has not convinced me on is consistency. He is very streaky.
That concerns me in regard to a long term commitment, and I honestly do not believe we can afford to tag him.
So…BOWLES.
His defense was terribly inconsistent this year. Considering he has been working with them for years, there is no excuse.
He makes horrible decisions in most games…from time management to when to take risks or not take them.
His constant zone defense drives me crazy. I hate it.
I would rather replace him.
DAVE CANALES.
He did an okay job. He hasn’t earned a head coaching job with anyone…and if anyone gives him one, they’d better be prepared to give him a few years to grow, or they’d be setting him up for failure.
Is he worth keeping in Tampa?
Well, here’s the thing: he had ups and downs, but as a rookie OC, thatto be expected. If Bowles remains, then yes, he should certainly stay.
But Bowles needs to be replaced, and if that happens, it’s doubtful the new HC won’t want his own guy there.
Dave Canales is not irreplaceable though. He’s done an okay job, not a great job.
January 21st, 2024 at 11:39 pm
The Vegas line was 8….
January 21st, 2024 at 11:43 pm
Been saying it all along…
It’s unbearable.
Looked promising and exciting last week right? Maybe he finally figured it out, right…
Let’s switch back to what didn’t work all year…
Failure of coaching to have a streaky talent like DW45 ride the bench in the most high energy situation of the season. Think he could have helped….
Fire Bowles yesterday
January 21st, 2024 at 11:52 pm
I agree that the NFC South will be much more competitive next year. The Falcons are determined to get a big coaching upgrade.
If they land Harbaugh, the rest of the division is in big trouble. Also, whoever gets Harbaugh is going to have to make a 5-10 year commitment. So whever division it is will be very competitive within 1-3 years of him getting hired.
Panthers interviewed Dave Canales, which tells me they won’t make a splash hire.
The Bucs have to decide if they want to be the big dogs by landing Harbaugh, who would be willing to develop a QB, or if they want to sit on Bowles and give up a decade of dominance to a division rival.
January 22nd, 2024 at 12:44 am
I can’t wait to see all those confident votes again in tomorrow’s poll. Foolish that people ride the roller coaster from week to week.
He coached a helluva of game against the eagles Last week because that was his Super Bowl it saved his job.
January 22nd, 2024 at 1:40 am
Ok, you guys made me go back to watch it again. At BEST, they punt it with 10 seconds left if we called the timeout after the first knee. That’s assuming they didn’t run around with it during 2nd and 3rd down. There was only 34 seconds when he downed the last one because we showed we weren’t doing the timeouts. I guess you could call it gamesmanship? But it would have come off desperate and unsportsmanlike based on what we were doing.
Great end to the season. Over/Under on us was 6 wins. Absurd amount of dead money. A MLB who played like he didn’t want to be there and ultimately unceremoniously benched. More rookies starting than any other team in the league. First year OC who found himself just a few weeks ago. The future is bright.
January 22nd, 2024 at 2:19 am
It looks like there was some kind of deal between the two coaches. If you look at the times, the Lions had the ball at 1:33 and took knees at 1:06 and 0:37. If they take the full 40 seconds, and Bucs use their time out, we go 1:31, second knee runs it down to 0:51, third knee to 0:11, field goal may take it down to 6 or 7 seconds. You then get a Hail Mary two scores down with roughly 4 seconds left.
Yes they could miss the field goal, but that still only gives us time for two Hail Marys at most. We could block it but how many have we blocked this season? The game was done the minute the interception was caught sadly.
January 22nd, 2024 at 2:48 am
As many of us have said, parity is the theme for this season. No team has been dominant, none. All of the remaining teams are beatable. A few things things separated the better ones from the others, but this season there was less separation than usual, and many of the top teams were overrated or regressed.
And that is the unfortunate thing about the Bucs this time around. Despite the problems that we have endured all season—Bowles, Canales, inconsistent Mayfield, OL, DL, iffy running game, etc. etc.—they still had a legit shot. Momentum, favorable season ending matchups, underdog/overlooked status, better energy than last season, luck, all of it.
This game encapsulated the issues big and small, that were unfortunately enough to fall short. They proved to be exactly what they always were, a .500 team with top-down head coaching/leadership issues that render them not good enough to get over. They lost to a team that was not dominant, either, but better in the areas that matter.
The question is whether Glazer/Licht will be objective about it, or get lulled into doing nothing significant.
January 22nd, 2024 at 2:50 am
i say one terrific season with a lot of over achieving…
and a lot of youth on the roster…!!
this whole thing at the end about using the time out – yeah it’s all sorta feasible, but as Mark said above ^^^
the game was over when the interception was thrown…
i think people are grasping at straws a bit…
good game tho – we held our own vs a better team – and it took them until the 4th quarter to eventually pull away on us
January 22nd, 2024 at 2:52 am
well said steele ^^^
January 22nd, 2024 at 2:57 am
holy fugg…
i just peeped our completed full schedule for next season…
we have a tough schedule – all the good teams – omg !
January 22nd, 2024 at 2:58 am
HOME
Atlanta Falcons
Baltimore Ravens
Carolina Panthers
Denver Broncos
Las Vegas Raiders
New Orleans Saints
Philadelphia Eagles
San Francisco 49ers
Washington Commanders
AWAY
Atlanta Falcons
Carolina Panthers
Dallas Cowboys
Detroit Lions
Kansas City Chiefs
Los Angeles Chargers
New Orleans Saints
New York Giants
January 22nd, 2024 at 4:57 am
Jeremy … ‘bowels is a coward. Baker is the reason we got as far as we did.’
I try hard to be respectful of others’ comments, but calling a good man a COWARD while sitting anonymously behind a keyboard in his mama’s basement pisses me off. That’s highly disrespectful, as is intentionally misspelling his name to further your agenda. If someone did that to you, you’d be up in arms, and rightfully so.
And for the record, Baker is not THE reason we got as far as we did, but he is ONE of the reasons we finished 10-9 on the season. We were one of the last 8 teams still standing when this past weekend began, and that’s Top-25% of the NFL. That impresses me, especially since this past year was the start of a major rebuilding effort. THAT’S a reflection on the job that Jason Licht did, that Todd Bowles & his staff did, and certainly on the players themselves.
January 22nd, 2024 at 6:30 am
Look how the Bills season ended again. My word, how does their coach keep coming up short, and not get fired? Bowles had as many playoff wins as McDermitt, with half the talent. He did it with a FA QB journeyman, no cap money, and 13 rookies playing. We should do netter next season, if not Todd could get fired. For right now, no need for name calling.
January 22nd, 2024 at 6:33 am
Timeouts are necessary at times. Red flags are good, too. Those concepts will be introduced to Todd in camp, year three, hopefully.
January 22nd, 2024 at 6:57 am
Is this the same philosophy he had in the 2021 Cleveland game???
January 22nd, 2024 at 7:18 am
Fire Bowles!
January 22nd, 2024 at 8:02 am
He’s a great DC. Not a great HC.
January 22nd, 2024 at 8:07 am
The Bucs are the Giants of last year. They had a super easy schedule to get into the playoffs then won a playoff game against a struggling team. Will next year bring the Bucs the same fate as the Giants this year? The Giants thought they were better than they were and made some pretty silly assumptions this year.
January 22nd, 2024 at 8:12 am
Can’t help but observer how animated and into the game most other head coaches appear to be and then I see Todd Bowles lifeless standing on the side lines. Sorry folks, many say the head coach don’t need to be animated or expressive on the sidelines but I say they do. That energy both supportive and corrective is vital to the team. It tells the players that coach knows they have it in them and always expect the best out of them! Attitude rubs off on the players. Otherwise it leaves it to the players which become undisciplined and individualized. The coach need to be part of that overall energy and desiring drive to be a winner. Not I’m just gonna stand here and watch what my players do. You are a coach, coach! Coaches actively coach, lead, energize, correct, motivate!
January 22nd, 2024 at 8:23 am
I’m very confused why so many are saying the Bucs weren’t supposed to get this far. They actually (on paper) have better talent than last year with Brady. Why were they not expected to do well again? If the QB was competent, and with the easy division they are in, they certainly should have been expected to get this far.
January 22nd, 2024 at 8:34 am
It’s easy to criticize TB. It took the Lions 3 years with Dan Campbell to get into the playoffs. It takes time to build a losing culture into a winning one.
The reason we lost yesterday was exactly what TB said – we need (1) an outside pass rusher, (2) upgrade play at the center position, (3) safety, (4) runner.
Priority is an outside rusher which would improve the Bucs defense immensely.
Bucs are pointing Up in the right direction. And we need to tone done the Rederick. The Bucs improved a lot in 2023 and with a second year with Dave Caneles offense the Bucs should become a real contender.
January 22nd, 2024 at 9:57 am
That is a quitters mentality. A winner would say, hey what is we block the kick?
This man needs to be fired immediately. He either didn’t know he had a timeout, or he is a quitter. One of these things MUST be true.
January 22nd, 2024 at 10:30 am
Hes a bad head coach thats the reason.
January 22nd, 2024 at 10:33 am
I said the exact same thing. But come on Joe- isn’t it obvious?
Todd Bowles LOVES keeping timeouts in his pocket. He’s done it all season long, game after game after game.
January 22nd, 2024 at 10:41 am
Here is a big what if! The fans do not need to think whether or not the Glazers keep Bowles, but what if in fact Bowles decides to retire himself?
January 22nd, 2024 at 11:47 am
Keep Bowles and Baker.
January 22nd, 2024 at 11:54 am
Just want to reaffirm that Trask is absolute garbage. I’m a die hard gators fan, but UF is in the same league as UCF and USF. Zero competition to learn from. so let’s be real here, the man is not qualified to be a QB in the NFL. Keep learning from baker young man and perhaps you’ll score a QB coaching job in your 30s
January 22nd, 2024 at 4:30 pm
Fire todd..do not pay baker no crazy money..
Let’s be realistic any half brained qb can do big numbers with these weapons.
Do not be fooled by baker.. he will get paid and play mediocre before he gets hurt running for 1st downs because he can’t pre read defenses coverages.
Todd needs to go now..
Time to sign bill let him.work.his magic here.
January 22nd, 2024 at 5:05 pm
He should’ve used that timeout before the Lions punted so he could’ve save at least 20 BEFORE the 2 minute warning and then we wouldn’t have rushed the plays as much after. Instead he allowed the Lions to run the clock all the way down before they punted Can’t believe he refuses to use timeouts especially when needed
January 22nd, 2024 at 5:15 pm
PeePeeMike sit in your corner and if anyone wants anything from you just wait for the zipper sound and you’ll know exactly what to do. Kyle is lights ahead where he was when he came here plus he sat behind Brady but I’m sure he saw enough of what not to do from Baker to last a career.
January 23rd, 2024 at 2:05 am
Can’t wait to see how Bowles reacts when a player decides he’s not going to put his body in danger running the last play in the last 34 seconds of a game since they probably won’t win anyway. Then the player can go to the sideline and say “no reason to prolong the obvious, right coach?”
That decision alone is reason to fire Bowles, and if you need more Licht, how about a professional defensive coach as HC who can’t come up with a defensive scheme to stop the opposition from scoring on every drive except the last when he instead surrenders?
January 23rd, 2024 at 10:32 pm
D Cone Says: “Can dig all season to explain it away but why not see it Bowles way.”
No need for difficult explanations: hail marys have some probability of success. How much? Shall we say 10%? Or maybe 5%? However, by not using that last TO Bowles single-handedly brought that percentage all the way down to zero, automatically sabotaging his own team for no reason. While it would have been an absurdly long shot or not, it’s the message that is important here, which clearly shows a lack of belief in his team. That’s why I don’t believe that Bowles did it consciously. He either forgot or was too emotional to think rationally. In any case a clear and objective mistake