Rondé Barber Addresses Fan Complaints About Todd Bowles
September 25th, 2025
The Bucs are undefeated.
Their head coach is Todd Bowles.
Still, there are Bowles skeptics from Palm Harbor to Palmetto.
It’s a small percentage, but they get loud on social media. And they were loud enough to draw the attention of Bucs legend Rondé Barber on The Rondé Barber Show, a WFLA-TV streaming production. This intrigued Joe, in part because it appears obvious that Barber’s show is a joint effort between the Bucs and their broadcast partner.
Barber attacked the subject of Bowles doubters and lectured on three reasons for their existence.
“The reason I think people continue this commentary is, one, because he failed as a head coach already,” Barber said of Bowles. “Right, he was with the Jets where, obviously, nobody can win. You don’t need to hold that over his head.”
“But I think because he failed as a head coach makes people think he’s a failure as a head coach, and that’s common.”
Somewhat ironic was Barber saying “nobody can win” with the Jets. The guy Bowles replaced there went to back-to-back AFC Championship games.
Barber went on to say Bowles’ Tampa Bay résumé should change minds “in terms of failing as a head coach.” And he noted past concerns about Bowles’ late-game decisions seem to be in the rear view mirror.
The biggest reasons some fans have issues with Bowles? Barber thinks he has the answer.
It’s the Bucs defense, Barber said.
“When you’re a defensive head coach, and your defense isn’t up to the standard, to the reason why you were hired — if your defense isn’t playing to the standard that made everybody think that you should be a head coach, then, well, they start saying he’s not good at his job,” Barber said.
That criticism, Barber said, is largely unfair but not completely. But the iconic Bucs cornerback and current team media employee says he’s over it.
“All he does is win, so, I mean the narrative has to stop at some point,” Barber said. ” … I think the questions need to stop, to be honest with you.”
Joe thinks the Bucs and all NFL teams are getting exactly what they asked for when it comes to fan criticism of coaches. Heck, loads of Eagles fans are angry at the playcalling of their new offensive coordinator. And they’re undefeated like the Bucs.
Teams and the NFL invest millions into getting fans hungry for the NFL 365 days per year, despite six months with no games. And with that passion comes the scrutinizing nitpickers who demand style points from wins and elite decision-making regardless of a team’s final record.
“Embrace all fans” is the message Joe would deliver to anyone at One Buc Palace who moans about treatment they deem unfair.
It’s the fan passion — good, bad or indifferent — that pays the bills. Not caring about a team’s flaws is often one step from not caring at all.
September 25th, 2025 at 12:24 pm
“ Embrace all fans” is the message Joe would deliver to anyone at One Buc Palace who moans about treatment they deem unfair. It’s the fan passion — good, bad or indifferent — that pays the bills. Not caring about a team’s flaws is often one stop from not caring at all”
Interesting, considering the times we live in.
September 25th, 2025 at 12:25 pm
Bowles has won me over because of the team culture that we have here. The players and front office have nothing bad to say about the guy. The time management assistant (could be an absolute sham and I’m oblivious) has seemingly paid dividends.
I mean we’re winning 4th quarter games. We’re having game-winning drives. I’m all in on Bowles now, ready to be hurt.
September 25th, 2025 at 12:27 pm
Call me in 3 weeks.
September 25th, 2025 at 12:34 pm
Is he good enough to win a championship? His story is still being written. If we’re a 10 8 team, and don’t win in the playoffs, that’s how he’ll be judged. So far, that’s how far he’s taken us. The same, or less this season would be a failure.
September 25th, 2025 at 12:34 pm
I think Bowles has grown as a coach and taken the necessary steps when it comes to hiring people to help with his flaws (Time Management). It’s hard to go from a fiery coach like Arians to a very stoic head coach that doesn’t show a lot of emotions. I think that’s why it’s taken longer for him to win over the Crew but he’s done it. This year he’s quick to call out the players that need to step up. He’s got his team ready to play and we are 3-0. Can we compete against top tier talent though? This week will answer that. Let’s not forget we are 3 drives away from being 0-3, so as much as we like Bowles now, that can quickly change over the next 4 weeks. Can he keep us rolling or will he have another mid season lull?
September 25th, 2025 at 12:35 pm
“All he does is win”. WHAT division title in a weak division
Nothing else Bowles is 3 wins over .500 in regular season
1-3 Un playoffs
8-9 with Brady ( the Goat) and lost in playoffs
Defensive Guru Coach with a defensive that’s not in the top 10 in the league any year
What it comes down to is this “ YOU LIKE HIM” “ He’s a Good Guy”
Because stat wise he is AVERAGE at best
Heck GRUDEN was fired with a Super Win anf after a winning season
September 25th, 2025 at 12:36 pm
lol what a whiner….todd bowles record as head coach is 500 more or less. he’s average. he isnt undefeated, the team is undefeated 3 games in. “all he does is win” lol wrong.
anyhow, todd doesnt care what we think, he has a self described thick skin and a multi million dollar pay packet, so why is ronde crying on his behalf.
September 25th, 2025 at 12:39 pm
Joe, Ronde is spot on in all aspects. Yes myself included we wonder why the defense is not better under him!!. I mean against the run incredible!. However, the pass not so much. I was at the game last Sunday and during the 4th quarter, I went wow looks a lot like last year soft coverage, the Jets of all people sustaining long dink and dunk drives down the field. Conclusion, the players!. the D line still not enough to help the secondary when it matters. The secondary better but still giving up to to much. MLB, Dennis a persistant problem overall and not good in coverage, sounds like last year. I have come to the conclusion that the only reason the Defense is as good as it is is due to Bowles dialing up the defense. Simply put we need a few more players we still don’t have. Ronde is also right he does win and the players will go through a wall for him. Bowles and Licht are attached at the hip.
The overall result leave Bowles alone get some additional talent that is sorely needed!!!
Maybe Bowles’s,weakness, he thinks he can have a winning defense with average personnel
September 25th, 2025 at 12:46 pm
My only concern with Bowles is at times he seems too conservative. But with that said from my chair (quite literally LOL) or seat in the stands. Decision making is easy. So hey, who am I 😉
September 25th, 2025 at 12:50 pm
You know, Joe, when you look at Todd Bowles, it’s fair to question what he’s done. I mean, you have a solid record here, but there are also some holes, particularly on the defensive side of the ball at times.
And a lot of people want to talk about clock management. We seem to talk about it a lot. But look around the league. When you analyze what other head coaches are doing, guys like Dan Campbell… I mean, Todd is not an outlier here. They all seem to miss the right calls sometime.
What I’m impressed with, though, is the culture he’s built.
September 25th, 2025 at 12:55 pm
Let’s just stop the narrative that Bowles should have gone for 2 in the Kansas City game. A lot of idiots seem to have a problem with that.
There’s almost a 60% chance the game ENDS right there by NOT making it… teams only made 41% of 2-pt conversions last year. That’s it, likely game over, hit the showers.
You do what he did… you make the 1 point conversion, get to a tie, and then with Mayfield and that offense you have just as good a chance (50%) as Mahomes to win the game.
If that game ends because he went for 2 and didn’t make it (most likely outcome), then all you Monday Morning Coaches with perfect-hindsight would say he was an idiot for going for 2. Right now in your perfect-hindsight you somehow knew he was going to lose the coin flip. smh
September 25th, 2025 at 12:56 pm
Finally, to all those ignorant people out there who say the Buccaneers should be playing more man-to-man coverage… STOP IT!
I am telling you, they do not watch the rest of the National Football League! They are not paying attention! The league as a whole is a ZONE LEAGUE!
Every single team is playing zone coverage over 50 percent of the time! That is a fact for years. And guess what? The last time the Buccaneers were above that league average was in 2022! This is not an issue with the Buccaneers. This is the way NFL football is being played today!
September 25th, 2025 at 12:57 pm
HISTORICALLY …
1. Timeouts and Late Game Decisions. Bowles has made atrocious decisions that have cost the Bucs games … that timeout in ATL that allowed them a free look at the play is a recent example.
2. Stagnant Defense. Last year pros were blowing up Tampa’s defense running the exact same scheme every game instead of playing to the opposing offense.
3. OLB development. Never has happened. Never will happen.
THIS YEAR …
Other than the timeout in ATL, Bowles coaching has been perfect. I’m definitely coming around. He’s gotten a little better each year. This year he’s been solid.
He needs to hire a DC that can develop pass rushers.
September 25th, 2025 at 1:01 pm
His Defense pummeled Mahomes in the SB ,,, he will always get the benefit of the doubt in my book,,, (cashed a futures ticket of 60-1 that day so money talks and for those that say how 60-1 , it was the day after the previous SB and no Brady yet)
September 25th, 2025 at 1:05 pm
the bowles hate is insane….
bowles is a great HC!!!!…unfortunately, folks who dont know football want a perfect HC….they can go back to the P.A.L. league!!!!
so, if a HC is fired, does that means he’s a failed coach?….
4-0!!!!
GO BUCS!!!!!!
September 25th, 2025 at 1:06 pm
All the Bucs fans I know, love Bowles and what he has done in Tampa. Most people I know that hate Bowles, jumped on the bandwagon when Brady joined the team.
No way you can hate on this guy if you were ever accustomed to the losing culture of this team basically since inception.
Go Bucs!
September 25th, 2025 at 1:06 pm
I assume if Todd started dancing on the sidelines like the jets coach and then looses the game everyone would like him only because he shows emotion smh
September 25th, 2025 at 1:06 pm
Aqualung has the warms for Joe.
September 25th, 2025 at 1:07 pm
I really like Coach Bowles, and I think he and Jason Licht have obviously done a fantastic job of hiring offensive coaches, but I think Coach Bowles has had some concerning decisions as the CEO of the team. However, through three games in 2025 he has mitigated one of his biggest issues and that is clock management and in game decision making.
September 25th, 2025 at 1:08 pm
TB has corrected a lot of stuff since he became head coach. Clock management was a big one. He also addressed the poor secondary play too. Now he needs to stay aggressive on defense in close games. That soft D allows mediocre QBs to systematic score at will. Like the Jets did. If he fixes this, most fans here will have his back. The soft defense works with a 3 score lead but lets teams back in the game when lesser leads exist.
September 25th, 2025 at 1:08 pm
Pmike thats what I’ve been getting only people that came in te Brady era are irritated with the current team or coaching
September 25th, 2025 at 1:09 pm
All he does is win…??? He has what, a 29-24 regular season record as Buccaneers head coach, in by far the worst division in football.
Give me a effing break.
September 25th, 2025 at 1:12 pm
Todd is slow to change, so let’s see this year if he adjusts to what offenses have done in the past to take advantage of his defenses? The other issue is that Todd doesn’t have a strong base pass rush. He has to dial up all kinds of blitz packages that often gets the secondary burnt like toast.
Not a fan of Bowles, think this team could be a lot better with a better coach.
September 25th, 2025 at 1:12 pm
All fans have the power of “line item veto ” so to speak and no matter how good the team is will always have those not happy.
I can’t say coach Bowles doesn’t deserve it as long as he’s here because no matter how much it seems he’s learned his lesson, every so often those past mental follies he’s been accused of pop up their ugly little heads. One thing I can’t stand about him is that when he’s questioned about HIS defense since he’s our DC, he always seems to use the pronoun WE and most notably throws the players under the bus. Case in point the Jets game. I’ve never seen a defensive minded coach who doesn’t have a killer instinct when his defense has locked someone down yet HE always seems to push the brake pedal but when the game ends up closer than it should have been he points the finger everywhere else but himself. We all have seen his conservative nature on both sides of the ball since he’s been here and it’s so aggravating. When Arrians got here our offense became the high power, aggressive offense we were all hungry for but Bowles has always been there to dull great offensive outputs with his at times inept defensive scheme/mentality.
One black mark he will never live down is because of his bad coaching decisions he’s the main reason Tom Brady has his ONLY losing season in ALL his football career. What really sucks about that is that the Buccaneers will always be tied with that as well more so than Bowles because Brady already had 6 SB wins before us.
So coach Bowles deserves the criticism he receives no matter how many times WE win
September 25th, 2025 at 1:15 pm
“This intrigued Joe, in part because it appears obvious that Barber’s show is a joint effort between the Bucs and their broadcast partner.”
Nuff said.
Can you say, “Inherent bias?”
Moreover, I can think of two more incentives molding Ronde’s perspective; Our retired great cornerback doesn’t want to hand over his keys to the practice field/locker room and has no intention of jeopardizing his preseason, Buccaneer sponsored, TV gig.
September 25th, 2025 at 1:19 pm
Sean McDermiitt. 135 games or more coached for the bills. Really good. Regular season record.7 playoffs, 7-7 in postseason. No Super bowls! By the way, Bowles 9 -1 in last 10 regular season games.
September 25th, 2025 at 1:22 pm
He is evolving so I think he gets a break. Defense is good in some areas and not so good in others. TB has addressed one of my biggest concerns by bringing in the time management person.
September 25th, 2025 at 1:24 pm
@HC Grover Says:
September 25th, 2025 at 12:27 pm
Call me in 3 weeks.
——————————————————————
As always, Grover, the eternal optimist, strikes again. As Kevin, from The Office, so eloquently put it, “Come on, man! Believe in something!”
September 25th, 2025 at 1:27 pm
For a lot of us older Buc fans, there are two paths the Bowles story can take… he can finish the job, and get credit for what he accomplished. OR he can go the way of Dungy here and someone else will win a title with the team he led for years. I don’t love or hate Bowles, but I do know we all will eventually depending on how the story ends here. Being “good” isn’t good enough here anymore. Win the title.
September 25th, 2025 at 1:29 pm
When you’re a defensive coach and your defense has been bad the couple seasons, it’s understandable that fans want to run him off.
Why are you here if you’re defense sucks (and your in-game decision-making and clock management sucks)? Totally understandable for us fans to want him gone.
But this is a new season and things to be a bit better this year, so let’s embrace it and hope for continued improvement in all areas.
Just my 2 cents
September 25th, 2025 at 1:32 pm
Subconscious bias against Bowles is coming from several things. Ronde was correct about 1 of them. The others are:
1. Still haven’t gotten over the Cooper Kupp play.
2. Stoic demeanor on the sideline puts some people off.
3. Persistent game clock mismanagement.
I’ve already noticed an improvement on #3 with the new hired help this year. As for the others, it’s just personal to whomver is chirping. Just listen to what they have to say and try to understand their frustration. But let them say what they want.
September 25th, 2025 at 1:39 pm
Joe … ‘It’s the fan passion — good, bad or indifferent — that pays the bills. Not caring about a team’s flaws is often one step from not caring at all.’
Aahh yes, the bottom line. NFL is a business as we’ve all heard a thousand times. Winning may be a magic elixir, but opponents in the NFL learn real fast what you’re doing & adjust. It’s easy to go on losing streaks for various reasons, like we saw in 2024 (4-game losing streak), 2023 (4 games), 2022 (3 games), etc). Every team has flaws, and constructive criticism can go a long way in identifying those & hopefully mitigating them. Sounds to me (from past JBF articles) that Todd Bowles is quite good at focusing constructive criticism.
September 25th, 2025 at 1:44 pm
A shame that Ronde did not have the cajones to address the real reason that about 20-30% of the fan base despises Bowles and that is nothing more than the color of his skin. The same racial bias was prevalent against Doug Williams when he was the QB of the Bucs and led them to the playoffs in 3 of 4 seasons from 79-82 including the NFC Championship game.
September 25th, 2025 at 1:48 pm
Well, I’m 100% sure that aqualung and HC Grover, know more than Rondé Barber
September 25th, 2025 at 1:48 pm
Dungy instilled a culture and they still fired him when he couldn’t win beyond the wild card round.
September 25th, 2025 at 1:52 pm
Why are you giving any credence to those fans criticizing Todd Bowles? He keeps winning the conference. Championships are not won overnight.
You have to draft players which the Bucs have done well recently. Then you have to develop them which takes a few years.
The Bucs appear to be on target for a championship but factors like injuries can postpone expectations.
If the Bucs can get back most of their key players they have a realistic shot of winning Super Bowl 🏈 #3.
Bowles and company are putting all the pieces together and the injury bug is the only factor they can’t control.
The 49ers have been Super Bowl contenders but injuries have stopped them.
You don’t hear fans demanding Shanahan be fired. Just chill 😎 out and support the Bucs winning short handed. They’ve done better than the 49ers and have kept their core players. Flush the naysayers and focus on the positive.
GO BUC!!!
September 25th, 2025 at 1:52 pm
@Bucsfan
Come on, unless you’ve talked to every single Bucs fan, don’t claim that. Regardless, keep it off here please. I come to escape from the unfortunate world to lock in on Bucs Ball.
Let’s go win a Lombardi
September 25th, 2025 at 1:56 pm
“The guy Bowles replaced there went to back-to-back AFC Championship games.”
That’s one fact. Another is that FOUR coaches since Todd have YET to match Todd’s record? Or that Pete Carroll’s record as Jet’s HC is exactly the SAME as Todd’s. He is the LAST Jets coach to even have a winning season!
As Paul Harvey used to say…”Now you now the REST of the story.”
I’m all for BALANCED criticism of Todd. No coach is perfect! Do we think Dan Campbell has always done a good job against the Bucs? It’s the over the top lunacy that fails to give credit to Todd’s achievements.
IE FACT Todd has won 4 straight NFC South titles but only one playoff game
FACT Todd is off to a 3-0 start in his quest for the 5th straight title.
Opinion – Looks like Todd is going to win a 5th straight. We know what they say about opinions. Everybody is entitled to theirs. Mine could be crazy here.
Opinion – Todd’s titles are meaningless because they were in the NFC South. Again you are entitled to your opinion but in the grand scheme of things opinions are worthless. Records and facts are not.
BTW Might have been Pickgrin, Geno, or one of our other great posters pointed out that nobody was yammering about how badly the AFC East SUCKED when BB and Brady were winning all their SB’s.
September 25th, 2025 at 1:58 pm
I don’t recall anybody in the last 2 years, on this site, saying they didn’t care about flaws. Or that they didn’t have concerns with the defense.
I HAVE seen a lot of people, starting with at least one of the Joe’s, say nothing to worry about on the offense, it’s not a problem, it’s great.
“Embrace all fans”…….. Of course they do but you know secretly they’d like to embrace some “fans” a$$ with their foot.
Best bet for the team, coaches, players = ignore the press, ignore the fans, play for each other.
Whether you’re one of the whipping boys (Todd, Dean, Depth, etc) or one of the can do no wrong heros (Bucky, EE, etc), I’d recommend they IGNORE everybody that’s not a part of the team. The better they do that the more successful they’ll be.
September 25th, 2025 at 1:58 pm
Haha yep HC Grover and Hodad.
I’m fine with Bowles again right now. He’s been here for awhile and the players like him. Depending on the health of the team, how does Bowles help us win in January? Can he help win games in January by not being outcoached and have the team prepared? We will find out, expectations are 1 or 2 playoff wins at minimum.
@It’s Corn… bologna. A main Bowles gripe is he doesn’t play to win, he plays not to lose. KC was perfect example. He took the ball outta Bakers hands and made it a coin flip. The offense was great last year, the D was hurt and was not good. You are on the road in a game you weren’t expected to win… to quote Liam Coen, that’s a go, 100% a go.
September 25th, 2025 at 1:59 pm
Bowles does look better this year so far with game management and aggressiveness. Kudos to him and I hope it continues.
September 25th, 2025 at 2:05 pm
ATRAIN Says:
September 25th, 2025 at 12:35 pm
“All he does is win”. WHAT division title in a weak division
Nothing else Bowles is 3 wins over .500 in regular season
1-3 Un playoffs
8-9 with Brady ( the Goat) and lost in playoffs
Defensive Guru Coach with a defensive that’s not in the top 10 in the league any year
What it comes down to is this “ YOU LIKE HIM” “ He’s a Good Guy”
Because stat wise he is AVERAGE at best
Heck GRUDEN was fired with a Super Win anf after a winning season
__________________________________________________
I will also add that Todd has been average in the worst division in the league.
His pass defense reminds me of Lovie Smith.
We are 3-0 this year against teams that have a combined record of 1-8.
We have had to struggle just to win against crap opponents this year.
Todd Bowles is 30-24 as the Bucs HC.
Mike McDaniel with the Dolphins is 28-26 and about to get fired.
If it wasn’t for Baker we would be 0-3.
So, yea Todd is not the reason we are winning.
We are winning despite how bad he is as a coach and some of us can see that.
September 25th, 2025 at 2:14 pm
Just like our Buccaneers Bowles is evolving in REAL TIME,right before I eyes, I personally think he is a top tier HC and we are lucky to have the guy!! Make no mistake about it, Licht makes a lot of good decisions, but the real source in terms of vision of what this team has become and what he sees moving forward is Coach Bowles!! Is their ONE Head Coach in this meat grinder called the NFL that has so many UDFAs and 5th thru 7th rounders contributing in such a major way??? Anyone think different I WILL WAIT just sayn💥🚩🏴☠️🚩🏆🏆🏆💥2025
September 25th, 2025 at 2:15 pm
If the Bucs played in any other division Bowles would be a 2 time ex-coach. 3-0 vs teams that are 1-8 this year. Like mentioned above talk to me in 3 weeks.
September 25th, 2025 at 2:15 pm
Bowles skeptics are always in the comments essentially praying for the Bucs to lose to prove their point.
I, as a principle, never listen to a fan who hopes for their team to lose. Especially when that team is 3-0. These people are more excited about their half-baked opinions than they are the football team.
September 25th, 2025 at 2:16 pm
Id just ask people to name a better coach in Bucs history.. let’s not forget the SB ring he has as a DC..
And his SB winning defense had much better pass rushers.. which is why I was screaming for a trade for a pass rusher
Todd has already proven to me he can win a SB with enough talent. Bucs have the QB, the OL (when healthy), the RBs and WRs.. now they need the pass rushers
September 25th, 2025 at 2:17 pm
We will see. They start beating the elite teams like the Eagles, Rams and Bills then maybe all that Bowles criticism will go away.
September 25th, 2025 at 2:26 pm
reasonable people can argue the pluses and minuses to micro bits about this that and the other, coach todd and every other thing about this team.
where ronde is totally wrong is the “… I think the questions need to stop, to be honest with you.”
um no. this is america, we are football fans, it wont stop and it shouldnt stop. the heat comes with being head coach of a team in one of the biggest pro sports leagues on the planet. super bowl champion todd bowles can handle the heat. stop being a whiner.
September 25th, 2025 at 2:39 pm
My 2 reasons for doubting Bowles:
1.) Who took their foot off the gas late in the 3rd and then in the 4th Q?
That would be the play caller Mr. Conservative himself – Bowles
He let the Jets climb back in the game with laying back on the play calling.
It’s a pattern.
2.) Loyalty May buy you friendships that last a lifetime, but not a Super Bowl.
White
JTS
Britt
Dennis
ANY edge rusher
Special Teams Coach
Bowels won’t make the changes necessary to improve, he just hopes guys like JTS will suddenly become all pro.
Honorable Mention:
Dropping Vita into coverage and Talent evaluation on the D side of the ball – meh….
September 25th, 2025 at 2:48 pm
WEAK COACH until proven otherwise.
Undefeated so far, sure, but against weak teams and with a combined scoring differential of +6 on the season, tied for the NFL record of lowest margin of victory by a 3-0 team at this point.
September 25th, 2025 at 2:53 pm
If the Bucs were in any other division, Bowles record here would be below .500 with no playoff appearances.
Narrowly winning a pathetic division with a team that has an overwhelming talent advantage is not “winning”
Getting smoked in round one of the playoffs is not “winning”
Its sad that the same ownership group that (rightfully) fired Dungy for not maximizing the team’s potential is now tolerating far poorer results.
Are two Super Bowls enough for the fans? For the Glazers?
September 25th, 2025 at 3:05 pm
Which happens to be the most useless, empty argument Joe can think of for a coach, pro or con.
September 25th, 2025 at 3:06 pm
I Will say this to Rhonde (whom I Respect Immensely)
ALL THAT “BAKER MAYFIELD” DOES IS WIN GAMES!….. Rhonda has THAT backwards!
Todd Bowles sabotaged games and puts Baker and the Rest of the Offense in UNNECESSARY SITUATIONS!
Bowles is MORE THAN WILLING to “Take His Foot RIGHT OFF The Gas and flipped us upside down”
TODD BOWLES CALLS THE PLAYS
Baker Mayfield WON this last game DESPITE Todd Bowles directing us into an almost untenable situation.. “AGAIN”! And THAT IS THE TRUTH…..
It happens all the time. We “require” Baker to “bail out” Todd, ALL THE TIME…
For me, It’s his (Bowles) self sabotaging 4th quarter “strategy” that’s making it HARD to trust him…
September 25th, 2025 at 3:15 pm
Davenport Says :
If the Bucs were in any other division, Bowles record here would be below .500 with no playoff appearances.
That argument makes no sense due to the fact that Tampa Bay was 3-1 against the NFC East last year and that would extrapolate to 6-2 for the season and even if Bucs went 4-5 in the rest of their games that would still be a 10-7 record.
Not to mention that when Joe runs the Confidence in Coach Bowles polls you end up with a total of confident and very confident combined at about 75%, which brings us back to my original point that 25% of fans are racially biased.
September 25th, 2025 at 3:27 pm
Ooooooo Bucfan said the quiet part out loud.
Furthermore, a lot of the reasoning for disliking Bowles in this comment section is for things he doesn’t even control, but then again I’ve witnessed some of you see a bad play in the game thread and blame Bowles like he’s on the field missing tackles and blowing assignments. Or like he’s controlling players with a video game controller 🤣. That alone is ridiculous, so to hear that and then hear what a fan hates about him let’s me know that fans is clearly not playing with a full deck. Like that one guy that’ll come to a thread about the OL, and start griping about Bowles, fans can be one trick ponies as swell
September 25th, 2025 at 3:33 pm
Hey Bucsfan do you hear how stupid you sound? Implying that criticism against Todd is only due to racism? Maybe you should lay off media for a while.
If any of us had a problem with a certain skin color, we wouldn’t be watching football in the first place you dull knife.
September 25th, 2025 at 3:34 pm
Seems to me that most complaints about Bowles are about player performance (e.g. no four man pass rush or defenders giving too much cushion).
Not sure why that isn’t the players’ fault or the GM. Players in soft coverage are often the result of having to send 5-6 on a blitz or, in last year’s case, massive injuries to the secondary.
I have no problem blaming Bowles for poor clock management at times, though.
September 25th, 2025 at 3:41 pm
Jon Gruden was an offensive coach. Scoring went down the year he got here. Team finished in top 10 in yards once in 7 years. Tremendous failure
September 25th, 2025 at 3:45 pm
Just really well said last line there Joe.
Best talking point in some time really.
It’s the idiosyncrasies of fans that makes it unusual.
This site has always allowed us to do that.
September 25th, 2025 at 4:10 pm
Bucs are 3-0 thanks to Baker’s nerves of steel and gutsy performances on game winning drives. That isn’t coaching. 3-0 from coaching doesn’t happen at the very end of games. No team will win all their tight games with game winning drives either so we are lucky to be 3-0 and look at the teams we needed game winning drives to beat.
This doesn’t appear to be an example of great coaching.
Let’s see what TB coach’s up against the Eagles.
September 25th, 2025 at 4:16 pm
I could very easily see this team having a 3-4 record in four weeks.
Like I said on a previous post, Bowles is incredibly consistent, and this is the part of the season where he gets consistently out-coached and his team ends up in a hole that they have to climb out of to get back into the playoff hunt. At some point the rest of the NFC South will wake up and Bowles will be giving the same lame excuses for why his teams collapse after strong starts to the season.
3-0 by the skin of our teeth, and we havent even played anybody real yet. Live it up right now people, because this Sunday will get ugly, and then the yearly four or 5 game slump will start and not end until the week 9 bye.
I don’t want to be negative, I hate it, but this is the Todd Bowles trend, year after year.
September 25th, 2025 at 4:27 pm
Let’s all think back for a second…. Do we win the Super Bowl against the Chiefs without him as our Defensive Coordinator??? I mean he’s earned our respect by continuing to win here and I’d like to know what coach has won more over a five year period coaching the Bucs?? Most franchises would love this type of winning culture and continuity…. IMO
September 25th, 2025 at 4:38 pm
It does not follow that 25% of the Bucs fans who post here are racially biased.
We are always losing games to the Panthers, the Saints and/or the Falcons each year.
Many of our fans do not like Bowles’ exotic tactics on defense. What he does is hard to watch at times.
Just a couple of observations.
Go Bucs!
September 25th, 2025 at 4:48 pm
Gotbbbucs
Not to pick on you because you represent a significant number of posters here who LOOK as hard as they can to find something negative to post about Coach Bowles.
“I could very easily see this team having a 3-4 record in four weeks.
3-0 by the skin of our teeth, and we havent even played anybody real yet.”
WOW!!! That’s simply incorrect. It’s the 4th week in the season and nobody knows how the remaining 13 + weeks will turn out. Your post simply flies in the face of what the experts felt about the opponents.
Falcons predicited to win 7-9 games due to inexperience of Penix.
But Houston…you can google before you post absurd OPINIONS. Here’s AI
“Before the 2025 NFL season, experts WIDELY predicted the Houston Texans would once again win the AFC South, citing their dominant defense and a talented young roster.”
BOTH those games on the road!!! The game against the Jets turned on a freak play, leap the OL, block the kick and have it bounce directly into Will McDonald’s hands for an EASY TD.
September 25th, 2025 at 4:48 pm
Bucsfan and WBLynch
I agree with your observations despite the fact they upset Stallworth. Nobody is saying Bucs fans are racists. Some here DO believe that there is a % who are. This is not a major revelation. I’m a 77 year old white guy and I’m just tired of this crap! Can we not look in the mirror and address the uncomfortable truth?
BTW WBLynch, only been seeing your name recently but I’ve really enjoyed your posts.
September 25th, 2025 at 4:51 pm
It’s not wins and losses has nothing to do with wins and losses…….. It has to do with having no ability to manage a two minute game ,no ability to manage timeouts ,no ability to manage replay properly……… the lack of common sense to have numerous practices in the stadium…… the failure by the Bucs to constantly not be in good enough shape to have an advantage over northern teams in the stadium……… numerous other comments that come out of his mouth that literally make your jaw just drop like he didn’t just say that…………….. It doesn’t mean Todd doesn’t have tremendous ability in a lot of areas, but there’s other areas that he is just void of upper level coaching acumen…….. This is where it’s the job of JASON light to surround him with the proper people , not be his friend.
September 25th, 2025 at 4:52 pm
“Many of our fans do not like Bowles’ exotic tactics on defense. What he does is hard to watch at times.“
Hard to watch for fans of the Bucs.
Not so hard to watch for fans of the game of football. In fact, it’s another layer of intrigue watching this team and if you paid attention to guys like Spags, McDonald, & Flores they’ve been mimicking Bowles for YEARS.
September 25th, 2025 at 5:08 pm
“It has to do with having no ability to manage a two minute game” Nope, I disagree. We’ve seen the team — not just Baker — handle our two minute and end games better than most teams in the NFL.
“no ability to manage timeouts” Nope disagree again.
“no ability to manage replay properly” Nope, Todd Bowles’s challenge success rate is 46.5% (13 successful challenges out of 28 attempts). That puts him slightly above league average.
“The lack of common sense to have numerous practices in the stadium”
Don’t even get this one. Is the fan saying that NFL teams that are successful have weekly practices on their playing field?
“failure by the Bucs to constantly not be in good enough shape to have an advantage over northern teams in the stadium” This has been addressed by me many times. The Bucs players have an advantage of heat acclimation. They have a clear disadvantage in sports medicine by being constantly exposed to the heat — both things matter.
September 25th, 2025 at 5:10 pm
Looking in the mirror and addressing uncomfortable truths is something we should all strive for every day. Thanks StPeteBucsFan.
September 25th, 2025 at 5:27 pm
Constantly practicing 2 minute offense *is* coaching. The dislike of Bowles on here is irrational, and I agree it’s probably racist to some degree. I like Bowles because someone like Bijan Robinson comes out and says Atlanta got out -coached in week 1. I like that Bowles somewhat changed the philosophy of his defense this year. I like all the exotic blitzes and pressures. I like that his time management has improved and he’s not afraid to change something that isn’t working. I would love to see how this whole team works if it’s almost totally *healthy*. I like that other teams are constantly hiring his hires- he’s excellent at choosing personnel. Personally, I would say he’s a way above average-excellent coach.
September 25th, 2025 at 5:36 pm
Someone is out of touch with the racism comments. In fact as long as they are players it’s fine. But not as a Head Coach. In fact these fans as soon as he was hired.were hollering he was a ” DEI ” hire. They hated him then and will until he is no longer the Head Coach.
September 25th, 2025 at 5:42 pm
hate to bring up the elephant in the room but Tampa is full of red necks and very raciest
September 25th, 2025 at 5:54 pm
Well, when Brian Flores was on the outs in Miami, before he went to Minnesota, I wanted him in Tampa, either to work for Todd as a full time DC or vice versa. Can’t remember what his skin color is, which brings us to the second point.
Criticisms about Bowles levied above are generally performance based and well reasoned. The outcry from the Pom Pom brigade is sickening. The Super Bowl victory came because Bruce Arians was a real head coach, and Tom Brady was QB. Bowles got mega torched by Mahomes in the regular season, maybe he learned something from that. It helped that KC had a cocktail waitress and a dental hygienist at the offensive tackle spots.
Some of the dumbest crap you can read is from the pink pony club.
September 25th, 2025 at 6:01 pm
Lung
Was Todd the the Defensive Coordinator for the Bucs last SB or not?
You can try to demean that ACHIEVEMENT and give credit to everybody BUT Todd but that’s just YOUR opinion.
Todd has facts, you have you’re whiny little beotch opinion. Don’t like the trash talk then stop trying to make up stupid nicknames for those who disagree with you and I’ll stop as well!
September 25th, 2025 at 6:11 pm
Aqualung made me laugh again. Bringing up the Super Bowl and giving no credit to Todd Bowles. He is actually that absurd!
Try harder.
September 25th, 2025 at 6:37 pm
They aren’t performance based OR well reasoned generally, Lung. Most are silly and a lot of them seem pretty irrational vs. the facts. And there’s way more venom than there should be, too.
September 25th, 2025 at 7:16 pm
Can the Gruden worship. Chucky came in, took over a Bucs team Dungy built into a defensive powerhouse. All Gruden did was plug a very few offensive holes, and voila: first Bucs SB. If Gruden was so smart, how come the LV Raiders canned his azz for leaving racist emails on his WORK computer? Real smart. I met his younger brother Jay years ago. Good guy and not a dimwitted egomaniac like Chuckles. Regarding Brady, he shows up when the entire Bucs team is SB ready except for one position: QB. Whoop, they win. How convenient. I want this team to go to the NFC Championship Game. I have never cared for the Stupid Bowl. It’s not the NFL Championship Game I remember as a kid. All the SB is is a Richie rich party. Barfo! Go Bucs, 4-0!!
September 25th, 2025 at 7:51 pm
@Aqua
I’ll try again.
The coach also calls defensive plays.
The passing ypg allowed has been statistically bad.
These have been your 2 dead horses.
Neither of these things correlates to success or failure in the w/l column tho, no matter how you try to spin it.
Plenty of coaches also call plays on offense or defense and offensive play calling (like your man-crush Coen is doing for instance) is generally accepted to be more difficult. In spite of your posting about our 2 hat coach every day for months, its not an issue.
Do you know who leads the league in YPG passing D ? Atlanta.
Buffalo, Minnesota, Cleveland, San Fran round out the top 5.
Last year it was Tennessee, Philly, Jets, San Fran, Washington.
So what else do you have thats supposedly “performance based and well reasoned” ?
Let me guess your answer……The pom pom shaking exited reptile blah blah blah…… same old song and dance.
September 25th, 2025 at 8:04 pm
Dorks like aqualung are going to read this post and use it as license to keep being awful “fans”
September 25th, 2025 at 8:38 pm
Aquaass is the most disliked person here. he isn’teven a bucs fan. He’s a Saints fan, but he’s only here because his team sucks.
September 25th, 2025 at 8:48 pm
I like Bowles a lot
September 25th, 2025 at 8:48 pm
And I think he’s a heck of a coach!
September 25th, 2025 at 9:02 pm
Yup it’s time to give Bowles his credit! He’s done an incredible job with this team! Let’s not forget this roster has been handcuffed by dead cap space his entire tenure at the helm.
September 25th, 2025 at 9:27 pm
The only item I’ll take issue with is ‘all he does is win’ comment. That is not true to date with his HC career. His record is average.
However, I’ve been a huge fan these first three games…keeping the offense on the field, knowing when and when not to use timeouts, playing the corners up more. And wining with all these injuries.
How can you not like what you’ve seen to this point?
I can’t wait to see what happens when we get healthier.
September 25th, 2025 at 9:39 pm
Did my last comment break a rule?
September 25th, 2025 at 10:32 pm
The personal attacks from the Pink Pony Party are especially welcome. Some fat guy is really irked. Excellent. Especially enjoying the “Lung” nickname. Not of the syrup changes anything about what has been well stated by many above.
September 25th, 2025 at 10:40 pm
Obvious
“His record is average.”
That’s simply not true. Average is NOT being the ONLY coach of the last five JET’s coaches to post a winning record. That’s way above average! His win % with the sorry Jets was a putrid .375 but no other Jet’s close has matched that since.
Not only is the only one to post a winning record only one other coach in the last 6 years has broken .300 two broke .200 and Glenn of course has yet to win.
By definition that’s LITERALLY above average!
He’s third overall in Bucs coaching history surpassing Chucky. Those two being two of only four winners overall. Todd is 3rd Chucky is 4th.
Todd is the 3rd winningest coach in Bucs history! 3rd out of 13 again is far above average.
September 25th, 2025 at 11:02 pm
Stupid is as stupid types – Forrest Gump