The Clock Guy Is Working
September 26th, 2025
“This Joe” openly scoffed at this hire but apparently Joe was all wrong. Early results show it’s working.
As Jeremy Fowler of BSPN points out, this past offseason the Bucs hired Zachary Beistline from the Jags. There in Jacksonville, among other responsibilities, Beistline worked with clock management during games.
The Bucs hired him to do just that. Beistline’s deals with the clock, when to call timeouts, when to let the clock run, etc. He’s steadily forwarding Todd Bowles information and suggestions.
Joe openly scoffed at this because the Bucs in 2024 made a big deal that Jackie Davidson, vice president of football research, was also given the responsibilities of making clock recommendations to Bowles..
Late last season, Joe was told in no uncertain terms Bowles still wielded final say on all clock management decisions.
So what was the point of giving this responsibility to Davidson, or Beistline if they could be quickly overruled by Bowles?
Thus far, as Fowler points out, Beistline’s suggestions have worked out exceptionally well.
Bowles, once the subject of social media discourse over his late-game management, has been working the clock to perfection late in recent wins against the Texans and Jets. In Week 2, Texans running back Nick Chubb rushed for a 25-yard score with 2:10 left to take a 19-14 lead. The suspicion is that the Bucs let Chubb score to get the ball back and use the two-minute drill, though coaches and players have neither confirmed nor denied that. Tampa Bay then methodically moved the ball downfield, used one timeout at the 0:42 mark and scored with six seconds left to secure the 20-10 win. Against the Jets, the Buccaneers got the ball inside of two minutes, called a timeout three plays in, worked the ball downfield and called a final timeout with three seconds remaining to set up a chip shot for the game-winning field goal.
Baker Mayfield’s stellar late-game play helps. But when I asked multiple people with the Bucs about Bowles’ improved clock management, they cited Beistline’s presence — and Bowles’ foresight to make improvements. “One thing about Todd, if there’s an area where he can get better, he’s going to do what it takes,” a team source said.
This has led to some stressful, if not acid reflux-inducing moments for Joe. For example, when the Bucs got a first down on the Houston 27, the Bucs let 21 seconds burn off the clock.
Joe was about to have a stroke, screaming like a mental patient loud enough to wake up neighborhood dogs, hollering, “TIMEOUT! … TIMEOUT!!!”
A reader told Joe the goal should be not to let Houston have any time left to score. Joe responded, “Shouldn’t the goal be for the Bucs to have enough time to score?”
Hey, it all turned out great as Rachaad White scored from two yards out with nine seconds left and the Bucs won.
Judging how the Bucs won that game with the clock management, Joe would say hiring this Beistline was a good move.
September 26th, 2025 at 5:40 am
@Joe
You weren’t the only screaming “TIMEOUT” while those extra long 21 seconds were ticking away.
September 26th, 2025 at 5:52 am
Agreed. Timeout….timeout….call a friggin timeout….
But, it was perfect. What do I know?
September 26th, 2025 at 6:39 am
I said during the game that they let Chubb score. The DBs and secondary all pulled back on the TD run. Perfect execution time wise to start the season. I was fine with them letting the time run off the clock. They have TOs so they were in good shape.
I’m glad Bowles actually listened to the clock manager. Lots of growth from him this season.
September 26th, 2025 at 6:45 am
I think they let it run down to far. I would’ve called T.O. with 15 seconds left on the clock.
September 26th, 2025 at 7:17 am
But
But
But
3-0 Baby!!!!
September 26th, 2025 at 7:46 am
Awesome just awesome to hear our coach isnt so arrogant he won’t self scout and find his areas of weakness when reflecting. Great sign of what being a man is all about. Having friends that call you out on your b.s. and being able to digest that heaping pile and get better. That’s a great sign of good culture.
September 26th, 2025 at 8:10 am
Was right there with you Joe. Several houses had to hear the Squatch howling!
September 26th, 2025 at 8:11 am
Winfield pulled up on that Chubb TD. In real life he would have been trying to get the ball out of his hands. They let them score.
September 26th, 2025 at 8:12 am
great work bowles!!!!
GO BUCS!!!
September 26th, 2025 at 8:25 am
I was also screaming during the Houston game. We had to get into the endzone and didn’t have much time. Thankfully RW put it over.
I was also concerned about the end of the Jets game. We only needed a field goal, but I think many of us were nervous about kicking. I thought we could have been a bit more aggressive. Thankfully CM put it through.
But given our track record last year of other teams scoring on us with very little time left, this is a marked improvement. In this game of inches and seconds, maybe these tiny improvements get us to 12 wins and the Bucs charging (instead of falling backwards) into the playoffs!
September 26th, 2025 at 8:27 am
ATL, exactly right. Clearly see him pull up at the last moment. No way on Earth. He would normally do that. Simply not in his DNA as we’ve seen time and again. But yeah, it worked. Kudos to the coach for doing what it takes to improve on what was widely seen as a weakness of his.
September 26th, 2025 at 8:46 am
We left too much time on the clock multiple times last year…. 2:00 is an eternity…. even :45 is an extremely long time if a team just needs to move 40 yards to get into FG position. I’m sure it wasn’t the first or last time that Joe has been wrong about football strategy… if he references punting out of bounds one more time, I’m probably gonna puke. The punt out of bounds, or coffin corner, went the way of the master of it, Ray Guy, a long long time ago. I just looked and there are articles dating back to 2007 on why the Coffin Corner is a dying art and why teams no longer use it. It’s 2025, teams don’t punt out of bounds anymore… do better, please.
September 26th, 2025 at 8:47 am
One of the fans biggest problems with Bowles was his game management. I still remember when he chose to walk off the field with time on the clock before halftime. Probably enough time for at least two plays. I don’t care if Bowles likes it or not. He’s shown a inability to manage the clock in the bucs favor. I love Coach Bowles but come on! Your an NFL headcoach. There’s dudes eating chicken wings, five beers deep who can make better game time decisions. I love Coach Bowles and have tons of respect but sometimes you just have to wonder what he’s thinking. There are multiple news articles pointing out all of Bowles questionable clock management. Good for the organization to recognize this and address it.
September 26th, 2025 at 9:00 am
Speaking of timeouts and clock management, my big beef is why do teams not use up all 3 timeouts in the 1st half? What are they saving them for. It sure isn’t for the second cos you only get 3 and that’s it. Kudos to Bowles for having the humility to recognize and fix a personal problem. That is the mark of a good human being. No wonder his team loves him. Now show it, Bucs 4-0!!!!
September 26th, 2025 at 9:04 am
The last two minutes is Beast Time (Beistline) with Grizz calling the plays and Baker doing whatever it takes to win.
The other size of the ball is concerning with Bowles calling his infamous Charmin defense with no pass rush from the front four. In the preseason, Bowles had his assistants calling the defense for most of the games, but in one game Bowles called it and they sucked.
September 26th, 2025 at 9:07 am
awesome off season move bc the difference from 24 to 25′ is night and day!
September 26th, 2025 at 9:14 am
Arizona left 28 seconds on the clock and got beat by Seattle. Last year we left too much time for KC and San Francisco.
September 26th, 2025 at 9:29 am
Who remembers the Texans game before this one where we had an injury, took a time out to save 10s, scored, and then Houston used every bit of those 10s to win the game.
I was with Todd on letting that clock run down.
September 26th, 2025 at 9:55 am
This improvement and progression from Bowles is why I am much more confident in his leadership skills this year. He has learned and adjusted. Kudos, Coach Bowles!
September 26th, 2025 at 10:01 am
though he/bowles royally screwed up in falcons game
September 26th, 2025 at 10:16 am
It’s kind of funny that The Genius can’t tell time and needs a helper. At least he got someone trained in time telling. Obviously Jackie Davidson had multiple responsibilities, so someone threw her the extra duty. So she was worse at it than Todd (at least in Todd’s mind). Bucs seem to like their leadership to wear multiple hats, like a Head Coach who is also the Defensive Coordinator and reports to himself. A real formula for improvement.
And Todd loves him some Swiss cheese army knives, jacks of all trades types.
September 26th, 2025 at 11:01 am
Why would Joe not want Todd to get better information? & clearly Jackie wasn’t doing a good job so they tried something else.
September 26th, 2025 at 12:17 pm
The Houston sequence was brilliant. Now, let’s “improve” by winning comfortably.
September 26th, 2025 at 2:02 pm
I heard Ronde talk about this guy on his show, and it sure sounded like Licht made the decision to get him and basically told Todd he needed to actually listen to him. If true, it’s been a completely under the radar fantastic move by Licht, and give Bowles a ton of credit for actually being willing to listen.
September 26th, 2025 at 2:16 pm
This season is night and day from the past several as far as Buc’s clock management goes! So glad TB made an effort to find someone that understands and helps execute this!! So far so good.
September 26th, 2025 at 4:20 pm
Can the time management guy coach special teams as well?
September 26th, 2025 at 5:44 pm
I was concerned once it got down below 12 seconds… but Aikman claimed that even with 9 seconds, you should usually be able to get off 3 plays, even 3 rushing plays, so long as the QB doesn’t waste time scrambling and running around in the back field waiting for someone to get open.