Todd Bowles Explains When A Game Is Over
September 23rd, 2025
For those who remember the very end of the Bucs’ 2023 season, these comments from Todd Bowles are dripping with irony.
On Sunday, the Jets scored 21 fourth-quarter points on the Bucs, capped by Jets defensive end Will McDonald hurdling a Bucs offensive lineman to block a field goal, recover it and run for a touchdown.
The wild swing in the game was addressed by Bowles during a visit to SiriusXM NFL Radio yesterday.
Bowles emphasized that games are never over unless they’re complete blowouts.
Man, Bowles sure has evolved.
Eighteen months ago in Detroit, with the Bucs trailing by eight points in the divisonal-round playoff game at Detroit, the Lions took a knee with 34 seconds remaining on third down. Bowles did not call his remaining timeout to force the Lions to attempt a field goal or another play. Instead, Bowles opted to let the game clock run out.
Bowles’ stated logic after that game was, “no sense in prolonging the obvious.” He sounded like a changed man yesterday.
“Unless we’re up by three or four touchdowns with five minutes or less to go, it is still a ball game,” Bowles said. “I mean, it is still a ball game and it’s highly competitive and freak things happen. And this weekend it felt like it was special teams all over the league. It felt like that anyway; I don’t know if it was or not, but there were a lot of kicks blocked. There were some punt returns returned for touchdowns. And it is never over. And you say, ‘always do your job’ and you gotta try to win the game every time you’re out there because it’s never over.”
Joe would wager that one day Bowles will admit he screwed up against the Lions. Maybe.
INSANE: Buccaneers chose not to use their final timeout after Jared Goff kneeled too early, which would’ve forced the Lions to attempt a 48-yard FG (with a kicker who is 38% from 50+ in his career).
If the Lions missed, the Buccaneers would’ve had the ball near midfield with 30+… pic.twitter.com/aQuUmJUmmv
— GhettoGronk (@TheGhettoGronk) January 22, 2024
September 23rd, 2025 at 11:26 am
a no clue what bowles tried to do there against the lions, he could’ve been fired
September 23rd, 2025 at 11:35 am
So give them a shot at going up 11, hoping they miss the 3 so you can get the ball and attempt to score 8.
You know what would’ve helped? Not throwing an INT on our first and last offensive drives and scoring on either of those instead of trying to squeeze every possibility out of the last 42 seconds of a 60 minute ball game.
Shoulda, coulda, woulda amirite?
September 23rd, 2025 at 11:37 am
Greg Schiano!
September 23rd, 2025 at 11:41 am
This guy is such a genius he is clueless how stupid he is in the real world. Against the Jets, it could have been a blowout if he, Todd, the Defensive Coordinator reporting to Todd, the Head Coach, didn’t decide to take his foot off the gas and pretend it wasn’t his foot.
And the Lions playoff game was an absolute atrocity, one of countless atrocities. This fraud is squandering Jason’s roster and Baker’s heroics won’t last to mask his ineptitude.
September 23rd, 2025 at 11:50 am
joe, you need to let that 1 go lol…
bowles was correct imo….vs the lion, that game was over…lions defense was getting after baker…it was a wrap lol
GO BUCS!!!!
September 23rd, 2025 at 11:56 am
WBL, that’s the 2023 team. Last in the league in rushing. An offensive line Licht and Bowles couldn’t wait to rebuild. A defense that gave Detroit 14 4th quarter points while they held the ball 13 out of 15 minutes and totaled 150 yards in quarter 4. After Baker’s 3 touchdown passes tied it up starting the 4th quarter. Goff completed like 12 of 13 passes in the fourth quarter alone. It was Baker’s fault WBL. Do you ever get tired of yourself? I’m sure tired of you.
September 23rd, 2025 at 12:01 pm
Joe, perhaps this is TB2.0!! Definitely an improvement in philosophy!
September 23rd, 2025 at 12:08 pm
The video clearly shows that the Bucs defense began congratulating the Lions immediately after the whistle blew when Goff downed the ball. That was before they even could know if Bowles had called a time out. They could see the writing on the wall. That mindset needed to change, and may Bowles’ recent comments are an indication that it has.
If the Lions kick the field goal, the game is over with an 11 point deficit.
But, if Bowles calls a timeout, probably the only decisive positive outcomes are a muffed or missed 48 yard field goal (possible) or a blocked field goal. If either a blocked field goal or a muffed or an egregiously missed field goal is run back for a touchdown, the Bucs still need a two point conversion to tie the game.
And, if Bucs get the ball back in Lions territory after a blocked or muffed or missed field goal, you have your franchise players risking injury in superhero mode trying to score a touchdown just to get a chance to try a 2 point conversion just to try to take the game to overtime.
If a franchise player gets hurt the way Godwin did trying to fight to the last gasp, Bowles is a goat.
Now, with the bias of a weekend just past where two field goals were blocked and returned for touchdowns, I feel right now like I would want to take the timeout. There was a chance that Bowles passed on. But, it wasn’t much of a chance, and it wasn’t without risk.
September 23rd, 2025 at 12:19 pm
Oh WBL, Baker threw for 400 yards that game. Evans, White, and Otten TD catches. White ran for 55 yards. Oh yeah. Detroit ran for 187 yards. In other words they ran all over us. Should have been 31-24, we went for 2 for no apparent reason. Anyone care to look at the game stats it’s apparent Mayfield was the best player on that field that day. WBL-you either love Trask or you hate Mayfield. Or the other option is you are a dou***.Probably all three, right?
September 23rd, 2025 at 12:21 pm
On one play, 3rd, and 4 he had Winfield on a blitz that almost got there. Taylor delivered a pass, and it was caught for a first down between, Vea, and Hall. You heard that right, Vea, and Hall instead of rushing the passer dropped out in coverage. Bad coverage. Had they rushed with the blitz Taylor never would’ve got the ball off. That’s Todd’s genius. Dropping DTs in coverage. Reddick was in coverage a lot, and so was YaYa. Braswell too, they are OLBs. Vea, Hall, and Roberts are not.
September 23rd, 2025 at 12:49 pm
I’m sorry, but for all the whiners …
Todd Bowles is our Head Coach AND Defensive Coordinator.
There are only 32 NFL Head Coaches, and they get paid millions by team owners to lead their multi-billion dollar corporations. none of us do.
But like all of us, they’re human and they make mistakes. Suck it up & march on.
Bucs are currently 3-0 despite some massive injury hits.
Bucs have won the NFC South the last 3 years running and made the playoffs with Todd as our HC & DC. We’ve done extremely well for the last 5 years after more than a decade of being the ‘Den of Depression’ … with Bruce Arians and Todd Bowles as our Head Coaches.
For heaven sakes, folks need to stop whining about picayune past issues and focus on the present & future. This is shaping up to be a REALLY interesting year of football.
September 23rd, 2025 at 12:52 pm
I have not seen so much armchair BS. Had he done this had he done that this would have happened. You haven’t got a clue what would have happened. Unless you have a crystal ball you don’t know what the results would have been. If you’re so much of a crystal ball reader what NFL team has offered you a coaching job?
September 23rd, 2025 at 12:57 pm
28-3
September 23rd, 2025 at 1:03 pm
Actually DR Bucs have won the NFC South the last 4 years running 21,22,23, and 24.. Agree on the picayune BS.
September 23rd, 2025 at 1:31 pm
“WBL-you either love Trask or you hate Mayfield. Or the other option is you are a dou***.Probably all three, right?“
“The importance of turnovers
In a study conducted by the Harvard Sports Analysis Collective, it was found that a team that wins the turnover margin in a game wins 69.6 percent of the time. To demonstrate the relative strength of turnover influence, home teams won “just” 57.2 percent of all games in the same sample. The effect is compounding as well, as teams that won the turnover margin by two or more won 83.9 percent of the time and 90.7 percent of the time when winning the margin by three or more.“
Neither, I hate turnovers. I harshly dislike losing scoring opportunities, and most importantly the role turnovers play in our ability to win football games. You’re too easily triggered Kenton, I’m starting to think you lack the mental fortitude to read anything that relfects on Mayfields’ play poorly and going on a scorned lover type of tirade. Tighten up, you’re a grown man.
September 23rd, 2025 at 2:27 pm
At the end of the 3rdQ of the game against the Jets I was prepared to give the over deployed two hatter some flowers for finally choking out the inferior opponent. That’s the last time I let him fool me. He took his foot off the gas, pretended to not know whose foot it was, and hasn’t taken any corrective action on the abominable special train wreck being mangled by Mr Magoo, who has by himself almost cost the Bucs each game.
The only unit doing anything is the offense. Baker has only so many rabbits in his hat. Coming up, he’s gonna know he’s got a defense that will be giving up yards and points like free samples at Publix. That puts pressure on Baker and he may start forcing throws.
Expect neither the defense to stop playing soft she’ll turtle in 4th quarters or the Special Bus to do anything but drive into the ditch.
September 23rd, 2025 at 2:55 pm
DR
ONE MORE TIME FOR THE FOLKS IN THE BACK!!!!!!!!!
STOP WHINNING!!!!!!
4-0!!!!!
GO BUCS!!!!!
September 23rd, 2025 at 3:00 pm
You are right Joe. Never let that go until Bowles shows us he has changed and we win a SB. That was a shameful act and made no sense
September 23rd, 2025 at 3:05 pm
Right on Estaban. Same goes for the trash pass defense prevent victory dogs breakfast.
September 23rd, 2025 at 3:19 pm
Bowles should be posting out here because he is just as stupid as many of these bloggers.
September 23rd, 2025 at 3:26 pm
“The only unit doing anything is the offense. Baker has only so many rabbits in his hat.“
Lmaaooooooooo this statement is sponsored by bias, and brought to you by a lack of ball knowledge, cause what?
Mind you, our offense has gotten the ball to start every 2nd half and is averaging 2.0 ppg in the 3rd qtr of games 😂😂😂😂
Pure comedy
September 23rd, 2025 at 3:27 pm
I don’t know if any of you have noticed it, but Todd Bowles game management is 100% better (and different) than it has been before. I remember hearing something about a game clock manager being hired in the offseason, so if that is what’s going on here KUDOS to management or Todd or whoever agreed to that because it is working. I give Baker a ton of credit for his EPIC play to close out the last 3 games, but one of the biggest differences to me is the game clock management for all 3 of those 2 minutes drills. Also the game clock management at the end of the first half has been stellar! Everything Todd is doing with this team this year from a game clock management stand point is 1000% spot on. It used to be so bad that a 12 year old with an xbox controller could have closed games out better… But this year its a new year and it shows. Keep it up Todd, keep it up Baker! and Keep it up Mr./Mrs. ClockGameManagerPerson!
September 23rd, 2025 at 3:44 pm
WBL; The Bucs were the underdogs in that game against the Lions in Detroit in front of a stadium full of fanatical Lions fans against a team that was the superior team by almost every statistical measure offensively and defensively.
In that situation, the underdogs have to go into that type of game realizing that if they want to win, they’re going to have to take some chances, which means making some tight window throws, which is what Baker was willing to do, unlike Lamar Jackson last night against the Lions when they were losing and he seemingly was afraid to pull the trigger and was sacked repeatedly. Maybe he was trying to preserve his preposterous 140 passer rating.
Maybe the Harvard Sports Analysis Consortium should do a study on that.
September 23rd, 2025 at 4:20 pm
Serving up the chum for the troll fish…. Let’s go back and re-live last year’s loss.
Not enough to complain about this season?
New year, new team, new attitude. 3-0 baby 👍🏼
September 23rd, 2025 at 4:30 pm
For a guy who doesn’t like people (allegedly) complaining, you sure do complain a lot.
September 23rd, 2025 at 4:34 pm
D. Rules—I’m often in full agreement with your takes and dedication to go stat hunting. However …
It’s not whining if you expect the Bucs to play better.
The players Todd has been given are not his choices, they are Jason Licht’s. I’m guessing Bowles has some input, or maybe loads of input, but the buck stops with Jason when drafting players. They stink and he packs his bags.
Therefore, many like me think the Bucs win despite Todd Bowles in lieu of his great coaching. How many times have we, as fans, screamed for a timeout, a timeout a high school coach would know when to call, while Todd was mulling about the sidelines practicing the fan favorite melody, ‘Mum’s The Word?’
But to his credit, he fixed that in 2025 by hiring a “timeout specialist.” Yes, an adult male head NFL coach needs a timekeeper?
Licht is the best GM in our division, helped mightily by inferior ownership, GM and player selection by the three other teams who reside in the NFC South.
Bowles’ coaching errors have been discussed ad nauseam, so I won’t rehash.
But think of joebucsfan. Open your heart for the Joes!
If we all agreed with Bowles’s coaching decisions and the play of all Bucs players, this website comment section might look something like this …
Go Bucs
Go Todd
Too bad we lost, darn it. We’ll get em’ next time.
Interceptions and fumbles—no problem. Again, we’ll get em’ next time.
Didn’t use those three timeouts? Guess Todd had his mind elsewhere. Go Todd, you’ll get em’ next time.
With total joy in Bucsville comes unemployment checks for the Joes.
Have a heart!
September 23rd, 2025 at 4:56 pm
nasty – except terrible vs. falcons he cost us points and gave away points by calling timeouts too soon, as if he needed to. was around 2 minutes left, his only defense is the replay challenge question at the time confused him. needed to quick snap and did opposite. lost control of things there.
September 23rd, 2025 at 6:20 pm
Let’s live in the present! These days so many people seem to want to focus on old grievances!