Todd Bowles Wastes No Time Hounding Secondary About Picks
May 28th, 2025
Scolded by Todd Bowles.
Joe really hopes this isn’t the case, but man, it seems Bucs coach Todd Bowles is slowly morphing into Lovie Smith with his obsession with picks.
Joe loves picks, too, but lousy Lovie didn’t give a damn if his defenses forced punts or were on the field for 15-play drives so long as they got a takeaway.
Joe is much more concerned with playing sound, tough, fundamental defense and forcing three-and-outs than banking on accidents, which is what turnovers are.
As Bill Walsh used to say, just play good football and everything will take care of itself.
Yesterday in underwear football, cornerback Zyon McCollum let it be known that Bowles is already in midseason form, letting defenders have it for not coming up with picks. McCollum made a nice play on a pass breakout and hit the deck doing so. McCollum was trying for the pick.
Before he pulled himself off the ground, McCollum said he knew he would get an earful from his coach. And Bowles didn’t disappoint.
“I am PO’ed,” McCollum said about missing on a possible pick. “And Bowles let me know first, of course. I knew he would as soon as I got up.”
Bowles was locked and loaded.
“You’d be a fantastic player if you’d just catch those balls,” McCollum said Bowles told him.
McCollum is not being singled out. Instead, McCollum noted, Jamel Dean is getting special treatment from Bowles, pick or no pick. “Dean, he doesn’t even have to mess up to hear it from Bowles.”
It’s starting to smell like, now that Bowles has young reinforcements on board like rookies Benjamin Morrison and Jacob Parrish, he won’t be shy about pulling dudes who don’t get picks.
Joe sure hopes Bowles doesn’t overlook the core responsibility of a defender — just play good defense — all for the sake of picks.
May 28th, 2025 at 12:05 am
It might be interesting to see what would happen if Todd actually taught his players to be excellent at one position (which already has multiple embedded requirements in his Mensa defense), rather than losers at 5.
May 28th, 2025 at 12:11 am
Joe, picks are just as important as sacks. We just replaced a guy who had lots of hurries and no sacks.
May 28th, 2025 at 12:26 am
Hope Bowles hounding these guys pays off, right now I don’t think it could hurt. Jamel Dean has no future unless he can pick off the ball at least a few times a season. Glad we haave secondary depth this year.
May 28th, 2025 at 12:29 am
You talk non stop about sacks, but then frequently minimize interceptions. The elite edge defenders average a sack a game at best. One play in a game. Yet you will not stop talking about it. Interceptions are almost always a better play. Hmmmmm…..
May 28th, 2025 at 12:36 am
Because interceptions are largely accidents committed by lesser quarterbacks. And if you believe the hype about turnovers, how is it turnovers don’t always lead to wins?
A defense can control getting a sack easier that forcing a pick. And it doesn’t matter how good the quarterback is, you get past the blocks, you get the quarterback. Doesn’t matter if its Pat Mahomes or Justin Fields.
May 28th, 2025 at 1:03 am
The benefit of a pick is that it usually results in excellent field position, making for easy points (especially with our K). If it is not great field position, we took points off the board. They do not equal a 50 yard punt in the opposite direction. Picks were dropped last year and they need to catch ‘em. Coach em up coach!
May 28th, 2025 at 1:34 am
So Mayfield’s 16 interceptions means he’s a “lesser” QB? I don’t think so, Joe.
May 28th, 2025 at 1:58 am
Enough of this INT fascination.
Get off the field on third down please.
Go Bucs!
May 28th, 2025 at 2:00 am
Sure, pics would be great but are we talking about pics so much to distract from the fact that we can’t cover anybody? We score 30 a game. All we need is a end don’t break defense with no holes. People are wide, wide open on this defense for all 3 hours. Competent dbs with a decent pass rush is fine and I feel far more realistic aspiration.
May 28th, 2025 at 2:32 am
What is the quibble here?
In 2024, only 3 team defenses had fewer interceptions than the Bucs. Four team defenses tied with the Bucs with 7 interceptions. That left 25 teams with more interceptions than the Bucs. 11 team defenses had twice as many or more interceptions than the Bucs. One team defense had more than three times as many interceptions as the Bucs.
The Bucs inarguably need to coach the defense to produce more interceptions.
The comments describe McCollum hitting the deck trying for an interception. McCollum is quoted as saying he was PO’d after he missed what is described as a possible interception.
So, if he missed a catchable interception, surely it should be noted.
Now, if a coach was ragging on him after he made a great play breaking up the pass when there was no chance to intercept the pass, that would be unfair, discouraging, and counterproductive. But, the text describes missing a possible interception. Shouldn’t evert coach call that out?
May 28th, 2025 at 2:55 am
I think a big issue with defense across the league is adjusting to the new offensive mindset of playing 4-down football
I see our guys celebrating when they get to 3rd and 4 thinking they ended the drive and the better OCs just keep going, trusting their guys to make a play
It’s draining physically, psychologically, and mentally – Bucs need to learn how to play 4 DOWN FOOTBALL
May 28th, 2025 at 3:39 am
I agree that you shouldn’t be taking chances to get a pick. Because if you’re not successful and don’t have help over the top, you’re going to regret it. But, if you’re in position to make the play, and the ball touches your hands, catch the damn thing.
May 28th, 2025 at 4:45 am
Redzone … ‘It’s draining physically, psychologically, and mentally – Bucs need to learn how to play 4 DOWN FOOTBALL.’
Agree with you 100% on that one. Buccaneers ranked 14th in the NFL last year in 3rd-down conversion percentage allowed according to Pro-Football-Reference (38.1%), and also 14th in Red Zone TDs Allowed (54.4%). But we ranked 23rd in the NFL last year in 4th-down conversion percentage allowed (63.3%).
Problem looks like our opponents didn’t respect us enough to be able to stop them on 4th-and-short, so they went for it. They attempted 4th down conversions 30 times in 2024, the most attempts in Todd’s 6 years here. And they made it a whopping 19 times, also the most in those 6 years (previous high was 14). Ultimately that cost us points AND games.
So yes, Bucs need to do better playing 4 DOWN FOOTBALL. And creating more turnovers is one way to do that, and win more games.
May 28th, 2025 at 4:54 am
Todd is a hard-working coach. There at 3:30 in the morning and keeps going strong all day long. It’s great hearing that Todd tells it like it is too. That’s a good coach. He isn’t ignoring anything. Todd is watching everything on that field and taking his own mental notes. The players respect him. No drama on our team. Go Bucs!
May 28th, 2025 at 5:09 am
“McCollum made a nice play on a pass breakout and hit the deck doing so. McCollum was trying for the pick.”
Sounds to me like he did both things we want…quality coverage and a turnover attempt.
“Because interceptions are largely accidents committed by lesser quarterbacks. And if you believe the hype about turnovers, how is it turnovers don’t always lead to wins?”
Largely, but not always. And turnovers are about two things…resting the defense and providing opportunity to the offense.
May 28th, 2025 at 5:11 am
And I would argue that interceptions are more important than sacks.
May 28th, 2025 at 5:20 am
In order to get interceptions; the secondary at least needs to be around the ball. When the opposing team marches up and down the field with 15 and 12-play drives no one is anywhere near the ball.
May 28th, 2025 at 7:04 am
most int. occur 3 ways. inexp. qb – qb pressure, and playing from way behind. forcing punts is just as good as an int. turn the ball over to this offense and let them rack up pts. sacks kill drives, qb pressure forces errant throws. 1 or 2 more offensive possessions per game is all you need.
May 28th, 2025 at 7:20 am
2020 Bucs were one of the best in turnover differential with +8 w/ 15 INT
2023 Bucs were pretty good in turnover differential with +7 and 13 INT
2024 Bucs were well down the list wit -5 and 7 INT
With a QB that has so many accidents that he might need to be fitted with depends INT’s are very important.
Bowles won’t call out the Boy Wonder publicly but I am sure he is telling his OC to get that problem in check.
By insisting on more picks he is wants his players not only in a position to take the ball away but also in a better position to knock the ball away by being in tighter coverage. An incompletion on third down is just as good.
May 28th, 2025 at 7:54 am
The other team being behind and desperate leads to more picks, the quarterback being threatened leads to more picks. We didn’t produce much of either of those scenarios last year
May 28th, 2025 at 7:58 am
Competition from our new corners with proven hands to catch intercepted balls could push Dean to the second team. Dean has steal hands so expectations for him are DROPPING.
May 28th, 2025 at 8:11 am
Dean is soft.
May 28th, 2025 at 8:11 am
I don’t think Bowles’ message is “Always go for the pick,” it’s “If the pick is right there, you’d better get it.” I saw plenty of dropped INTs last season.
May 28th, 2025 at 9:11 am
16 of 17 teams that had a negative turnover differential last year missed the playoffs. The stats don’t lie – turnovers have a significant impact on winning games.
The Bucs were the only team with a negative turnover differential that made the playoffs. – Mainly due to a weak division and an explosive offense that didn’t show up in the playoff game.
2 things can both be true- Sacks force the opponent to punt away the ball and turnovers provide opportunities to score more points.
May 28th, 2025 at 9:16 am
The division isn’t filled with great opposing QB’s and Joe’s savior, Riddick, should eat these QB’s up. Joe’s Riddick will create sacks and bad throws. With some pressure on QB’s, Bowles wants his DB’s to be more aggressive and on top of the receivers. In camp, Bowles is pushing tight coverage and the mentality of picks. It still starts up front with pressure from the DL and edge guys.
May 28th, 2025 at 9:34 am
I think perhaps there is a difference in Lovie’s and Todd’s attitudes about INT’s.
ALL coaches like picks, perhaps Lovie too focused. I think Todd OTOH just wants his DB’s to CATCH THE FREAKING BALL IF YOU GET YOUR HANDS ON IT.
Dean is the worst…hands of stone…Zyon is starting to worry me. Both of these guys have dropped certain ints…at least Zyon doesn’t back off from hitting.
BOTH are decent cover guys but can’t seem to cash in when they get their hands on the ball.
May 28th, 2025 at 10:13 am
hope and bowles go hand in hand
May 28th, 2025 at 10:13 am
are we playing bump and run or mostly zone?
May 28th, 2025 at 10:22 am
Redzone nails it. Good call. It requires excellent coaching, scheming, playcalling, and a tough as nails mindset to be beastl at stopping opponents going for it on 4th down.
All of those things were missing on defense last season.
May 28th, 2025 at 10:23 am
Interceptions are a byproduct of getting to the QB, and getting to the QB is a byproduct of good coverage schemes.
Bowles has one person to blame for many of the shortcomings of his defense and it’s the guy in the mirror. You can’t play off coverage in the most meaningful parts of every game and then cry when offenses drive the field on you in less than a minute on a weekly basis.
Bowles gets lauded as a coach that blitzes alot, but run blitzing on 2nd and short after giving up easy completions on first down doesn’t make him a risk taker. It makes him a clown trying to cover up a flaw in his scheme.
May 28th, 2025 at 10:41 am
“You can’t play off coverage in the most meaningful parts of every game ”
And you can’t play tight man to man without the MEN to execute. Seems Todd did alright in the SB.
May 28th, 2025 at 11:28 am
looks like this is zyon’s last season as a buc
May 28th, 2025 at 12:40 pm
SPBF
The SB is referenced often, but think of these three things
1. Both KC tackles were out.
2. If KC receivers catch the balls that Mahomes put on them, the outcome could
have been much different.
And to a lesser degree:
3. Andy Reid’s son maiming a small child on SB week had to effect that team. It would effect me.
Obviously glad we won’t. Not sure it was some genius defense though…
May 28th, 2025 at 3:10 pm
“Not sure it was some genius defense though…”
The Bucs lost to the Chiefs by THREE during the regular season when Cheetah went crazy. He did that to a LOT of teams.
We can debate “genius”, we can debate who gets credit for what…but we can’t debate the final results. That is my biggest problem with the Todd trolls.
Nobody is perfect and we all have opinions. But Todd has SCOREBOARD in many areas. I’m an offense guy. I loved “Air Coryell. I LOVED BA…no risk it no biscuit. Some people like a D guy. O or D for me eventually comes the bottom line. What does the scoreboard/record say?
May 28th, 2025 at 3:53 pm
Joe – we have way different opinions. turnovers matter. you say they dont but teams that have positive ratios consistently win. You bring up one offs all the time. Yes playing good defense matters but nobody said it doesnt. you almost politicize it. Here are the facts, if an offense is driving and throws a pick or fumbles the ball then those are lost points on offense. if the other team scores, it is a double whammy. possessions matter. that is also why we didnt win the playoff game. our offense did not have enough posessions and we shot ourselves in the foot. do you think we lose that game if we dont fumble the ball in our territory? i highly doubt that.