Relax, Bucs Fans, Todd Bowles Has This
May 17th, 2025
Mad blitzer waiting to unleash.
Michael Penix gives Joe pause.
The Falcons quarterback sure doesn’t do that for Ben Solak.
The NFL scribe for the four-letter looked at Week 1 games. Why not? Can’t we dream about real football? Week 1 is a little more than three months away.
Solak loves the Bucs offense. He said he’s going to be riding it in his short-term investment strategy this fall. Why? Solak sees the Bucs returning a top-three offense with all starters back and rookie receiver Emeka Egbuka.
How could one not like this offense? Solak says.
And for Bucs fans like Joe who worry a little about Penix, Solak has calming words: Penix ain’t no Kirk Cousins. At least not yet.
… Bowles’ secondary was shredded by Kirk Cousins in last year’s games against the Falcons, but I’d wager Penix is far more easily flustered and confused by Bowles’ chaos-oriented scheme than Cousins was. I’m happy to buy early and low on a Buccaneers team that should prove a legit NFC contender.
It still gives Joe shivers that such an immobile guy like Cousins (Atlanta equipment managers have to wipe the pigeon sh!t off his shoulder pads) torched the Bucs twice in some of the worst defensive displays Joe has ever seen.
It seemed Cousins had Bucs coach Todd Bowles’ blitzes figured out. But Solak doubts Penix will have that mastery and Bowles will treat Penix quite rudely when the Dade City native faces his hometown team for the first time in Week 1.
Wager accordingly, Solak suggests.
Every Baker Mayfield throw of 20+ air yards from a clean pocket in 2024: pic.twitter.com/FEgXwvZtHj
— Jacob Gibbs (@jagibbs_23) May 16, 2025
May 17th, 2025 at 8:25 am
Penix Jr still young doesn’t have that many starts under his belt and still makes the Rookie picks. BUCS will go to Atlanta opening day and make a statement who the 4 time reigning NFC South Champions are. LFG!!!!!
May 17th, 2025 at 8:28 am
I read the headline and sprayed the room with coffee.
May 17th, 2025 at 8:29 am
Penix tells his pianist, “the pen is mightier.”
May 17th, 2025 at 8:42 am
If Bowles didn’t make serious changes to how he draws up the defense , all he’s got is a moving truck in his future.
May 17th, 2025 at 8:53 am
This video proves Bake is better with the under 20 yds throw than the overs. I like Bake but some of those throws, with a clean pocket, were way off target. Some of the receivers were wide open. Need to hit those this year and keep the D resting
May 17th, 2025 at 8:57 am
AGAIN….Patrick Mahomes feasted on blitzes the year the Bucs won the SB.
So Todd blitzed less than 10% of the time that year against the Chiefs in the regular season and the SB. Despite what our trolls love to promote Todd has shown flexibility…WHEN he has the talent!!!
That is the real question. Did the Bucs do enough to repair a horrid defensive backfield. The two CB’s at least show “promise”. Reddick should fire up the rest of the guys much like Simeon Rice did long ago and JPP more recently.
It Todd has the horses the Bucs are going to make some real noise!
May 17th, 2025 at 8:59 am
There is a reason Liam Coen ran a dink and dunk offense last year. The results sure seemed to suggest… something. 🙂
May 17th, 2025 at 9:08 am
Penix is clutch and he has some magic in that left arm.
Penix beat us last year for those don’t recall.
We need our D to be much improved from last year.
I think it will be, so I think we’ll beat ATL this year.
But Penix is a stud.
May 17th, 2025 at 9:09 am
Again – recalling a game from an eon ago, when there was an excellent, full time HC with a proven winning track record and Todd was a full time defensive coordinator, is irrelevant to the current world. It is funny, though.
There are 168 hours in a week. Most who talk about these top coaching jobs talk about them being 90 hour a week plus jobs.
Let’s assume Todd only works and sleeps, further let’s assume he’s one of those who don’t need much sleep. 4 hours a night, that’s 28, leaving 140 left.
He’s already 40 hours shy of the time put in by competitors with full time HCs and full time DCs, and of course he doesn’t apply 140 hours a week to his two jobs, either.
This is the fundamental flaw. Great dude was a god defensive coordinator when that was his only job. As a split timer over two critical coaching jobs with two franchises, his results demonstrate the impact of the flaw.
May 17th, 2025 at 9:20 am
Bowles should’ve been fired two years ago. Team is just spinning it wheels now.
May 17th, 2025 at 9:21 am
If the Bucs are spinning their wheels after 4 straight Division titles what are the other teams doing who haven’t won a single title in years?
May 17th, 2025 at 10:06 am
Man that was a lot of incompletes.
May 17th, 2025 at 10:08 am
Winning three consecutive division titles with a .500 W/L record requires extraordinary good luck. Please.
May 17th, 2025 at 10:12 am
I want the NFC South streak to continue but I don’t know how long it will last for. Todd’s regular season wins have improved by a win and that’s tracking in the right direction. Hopefully that continues into the playoffs. Carolina has been getting better and they are tracking to be in the .500 range. As far as Phenix Jr. he did provide a spark after the Cousins debacle and pushed Tampa to the brink to beat the Saints in the home final.
May 17th, 2025 at 10:21 am
I do like our roster but if there is anybody that can screw it up, its Super Todd. LMAO
May 17th, 2025 at 10:54 am
“Penix beat us last year for those don’t recall”
Erik, Penix had 0 snaps against the Bucs. Yeah the Falcons won both games but he didn’t beat the Bucs
May 17th, 2025 at 11:06 am
Bowles’s record against rookie QBs is inconsistent at best. Bowles has to play more man coverage and get pressure with the front four.
May 17th, 2025 at 11:08 am
“Atlanta equipment managers have to wipe the pigeon sh!t off his shoulder pads” That’s a good one Joe’s. Keep up the good work! Go Bowles!
May 17th, 2025 at 11:08 am
Interesting definition of “clean pocket”. When your QB has to leave the pocket, scramble left or right 10-15 yards, and throw on the run – that is NOT a clean pocket. About 1/3 of the throws shown were NOT clean pocket.
May 17th, 2025 at 11:14 am
With 2 of a team’s most important position (HC/DC) being subpar, middle of the pack of his peers at best, I wouldn’t be so sure of anything concerning Bucs!
May 17th, 2025 at 11:17 am
By my count, I have him throwing 41 passes of 20 yd or more last year. He only completed 39% of those compared with his overall completion rate of 71.4%. His % completions under 20 yds would probably be closer to 75% if you factored out those throws greater than 20 yd. However, some of those corner throws for TDs were pretty impressive.
May 17th, 2025 at 11:28 am
I’m calling Bul@4hit on the Xposter. I can count 10 more catches to ME13 alone that were 20yds DF on a rope that were not shown in his Selected “every catch” video.
May 17th, 2025 at 12:05 pm
did we remove the ones thrown while mike and chris were both out?
May 17th, 2025 at 1:15 pm
Feeling like a dead duck
spitting out pieces of his broken luck.
May 17th, 2025 at 1:24 pm
Don’t worry guys Ring of Honor head coach Todd Bowles got this!
May 17th, 2025 at 1:34 pm
Baker hesitates too much throwing down field it seems. Maybe he doesnt trust many people. Though if he throws with anticipation is seemed to work better or when he escapes the pocket
May 17th, 2025 at 1:49 pm
Bucs win big if they come into the game healthy. I’ll be saying it for the next 3 months. Guys will be foaming at the mouth week 1. Bowles has shown he has them ready for that.
May 17th, 2025 at 2:29 pm
Agree, that video shows why we didn’t go deep more often…
By my count, 27 of the 41 throws were accurate / catchable. Some of the others were pretty far off.
Of course, there’s no way to know whether Baker was off or if WR was not where he supposed to be on some of those too…
May 17th, 2025 at 2:31 pm
It’s looking to me that we should win the division, but they play the games for a reason.
May 17th, 2025 at 2:36 pm
Unbelievable, (fellow poster) some of the further off throws do look like either a mixup as you said, or maybe Baker trying to throw the receiver open.
May 17th, 2025 at 2:52 pm
I noticed a lot of bad drops too. #15 JMac and #17 Sterling Sheppard caught my eye especially.
May 17th, 2025 at 4:10 pm
A full year under J-Macs belt and the addition of EE makes our long ball offense better.
J-Mac and EE both show good hands, ability to track and adjust to the ball in air, and body control to put them in a position to make the catch.
Very interested in how Chris fits back in. IF he’s 100% (which would surprise me) that would be huge…. Bro was on track for a historic year before the injury 🤞🏼
Its going to be interesting and fun to watch Grizz’s tweaks to the passing game.
Great time to be Bucs fan even if not everybody gets it 🤘🏼
May 17th, 2025 at 4:11 pm
Bowles is notoriously bad at coaching against backup QB’s and QB’s with barely any experience. Penix will complete at least 80% of his passes in that first game, mark it down.
One injury in the secondary in the preseason and the defensive scheme will be 10 yards off on the outsides and Hasaan Reddick covering the curl/flat.
May 17th, 2025 at 6:19 pm
Marked 😉
May 17th, 2025 at 6:33 pm
I don’t follow what the clip has do with the article… but yes, yes it’s a point I was sharing all last year- Baker does not drop back, read a defense and throw downfield at an elite level at all. I’m a Cleveland fan as well and I’ve watched all the games. There’s a reason they sold their future and any moral standing in the community to get another quarterback. He’s “creative “ out of necessity (although he’s damn good at it). If the run game performs well and the defense is adequate he is a playoff quarterback. If not he is Jeff Garcia. We can’t play from behind.
May 17th, 2025 at 7:11 pm
Bowles does not game plan anymore he sits back and lets the offense take what they want first half. At halftime he adjusts. Let’s hope it’s not over by halftime.
.