Todd Bowles Says Offensive Playcalling Had No “Groove”
October 22nd, 2025
The Bucs’ head coach wagged a virtual finger at his rookie offensive coordinator after the Ford Field fiasco on Monday night.
Joe was intrigued how Bowles seemed to throw a little shade at Josh Grizzard.
His comments came on Buccaneers Total Access (Joe listened on SiriusXM).
“We didn’t stick with [running Rachaad White],” Bowles said. “ We couldn’t get a groove going and the offensive flow going as far as the play calling was concerned. And we got behind the 8-ball a few times with a few penalties, but we gotta stick with [the run game] no matter what. We gotta make sure we get those 50-plus pass [attempts] down.”
Joe wrote about how the Bucs were wise to plan on passing a lot against a decimated Lions secondary. However, over and over and over again that plan was not working. A pivot to more running seemed to make sense and did not happen.
The Bucs ran only 5 times in the first half for 18 yards, with no negative runs. That’s not so bad.
October 22nd, 2025 at 5:02 pm
The fact that the Lions didn’t seem to miss a tackle during the game made things even more difficult. One Lion? No problem, Buc goes down. One Lion using one finger? Yeah, Buc goes down. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen such a game where one team couldn’t miss a tackle and the other couldn’t make a tackle.
October 22nd, 2025 at 5:03 pm
Sometimes you have to help your offense out. That means run the ball and do short, quick passing.
There seemed to be too much “hero” ball going on.
October 22nd, 2025 at 5:05 pm
agree with cannon
October 22nd, 2025 at 5:21 pm
“Joe was intrigued how Bowles seemed to throw a little shade at Josh Grizzard.”
——
That’s exactly what he does.
Never takes the blame but quick to point the finger at anyone but himself. Been saying it forever. Would have been interesting to have Liam Coen take the same tact last year and start calling out the crap defense this so called “defensive expert” put on the field. Last years offense was good enough to win a SB. If not for the Bowle’s defense they might have. But of course between some fans and many in the media this guy just walks right between the raindrops.
October 22nd, 2025 at 5:22 pm
If we can run for seven or eight yards and have third down and 2 or 3 yards we’ll have them right where we want them. Seems like our passing game looks pretty confident throwing 2 or 3 yard passes.
October 22nd, 2025 at 5:29 pm
Well that’s what you get with a rookie play caller. He still needs time to learn. Just be ready by the playoffs.
October 22nd, 2025 at 5:41 pm
starting the game down 14-0 didnt help the groove while the defense performed well afterwards the bad start may have affected the groove of a young coordinator against an aggressive team in s hostile environment
October 22nd, 2025 at 5:53 pm
@durango95 so your really going to sit there and say the offense wasn’t the problem in this game your tripping
October 22nd, 2025 at 5:57 pm
Grizz called a bad game. He saw plays were not working and really did not do a good job of adjusting to the man coverage and LBs playing close to the line.
October 22nd, 2025 at 6:09 pm
BUCS FAN since 2000 says JOE is clueless 🙈.
1. Bucs still have NO DEFENSE since 2021-2022. (No edge rusher) (No Ball Hawks) cornerbacks and safeties in back field (secondary SUCKS).
2. Revolving doors with Offensive Coordinators selling out after ONE season.
3. CHRIS GODWIN and MIKE EVANS “DIED” on the field because of “ATROCIOUS” OFFENSIVE COACHING STAFF!!!! thanks TODD.
4. BAKER MAYFIELD has to “RUN and PASS” for “1000 yards every week” is NOT a good strategy.
There NEEDS to ACCOUNTABLILTY with this team (coaches, players, front office, etc….) if they want to WIN 🏆 another SUPER BOWL????
October 22nd, 2025 at 6:18 pm
The Bucs OLine were dominated by Lions and Mayfield had little time to throw deep or let receivers routes develop and it seemed Bucs’ offense was unprepared for the scheme they were facing and so I’d say this particular game, the offense was outcoached.
October 22nd, 2025 at 6:24 pm
(Second time.) I have two questions. If we wanted to start fast why did we defer having the ball first until the second half? Who makes the decision what we will do if we win the coin toss?
October 22nd, 2025 at 6:25 pm
I’ve got to agree with Durango on his comment. Because it’s true.
Has Anybody Ever heard Bowles take the blame??? Don’t just say it… PROVE IT!
I’ve Never heard him (Bowles) man up in such a way that HE Directly takes the blame for Anything! His “actual” reputation is he’s a Known Offender of throwing “His Own Handpicked” coaching staff under the nearest bus while he was with the jets. He’s firing up the stretching rack right now for Grizz…
Though…. “Grizz IS Responsible” for his rocky side of the road.. Some Really Bad play calling from Grizz that time and NO DOUBT ABOUT IT! Also… The Only adjustments that Grizz made was A Lot LESS running the ball! Other than that, Grizz couldn’t see the forest for the trees. When we WERE SUCCESSFUL in the passing game was in the intermediate and middle of the field. Made MANY successful strikes in those areas. The long ball (Mayfield COULDN’T hit the broad side of a barn in the distance) and the screen (their D Laid Us Out every screen we threw) turned out to be a Toothless DOG! So Grizz FAILED TO ADJUST!
Listen, it was a GIANT FAIL across the board! The defense DID “in a rare occurrence”, the “Better” job that night than the Offense. And There’s No Doubt about That!
October 22nd, 2025 at 6:30 pm
Coen would have short pass gamed them continuously all game long until he lulled the Lions to sleep and only then would he let a long one fly after the safeties began to crowd the LOS or he would hope that one of the RB’s or receivers would eventually break loose for a big gain on one of the screen passes. When Mayfield’s having an inaccurate day you don’t want him playing long ball all day long.
October 22nd, 2025 at 6:31 pm
Look Bowles is the HC he’s responsible for the whole team. Including the offense. He should be pointing the finger at himself because that’s what a good leader does. He was a crap HC in NY and he’s a crap HC in TB. And I don’t care what his players say about him either. Bill Belichick won a ton of SB and many of his players didn’t care for him. On the other hand Bowels has won nothing
October 22nd, 2025 at 6:38 pm
Sleepy Todd likes collecting those paychecks. He never takes responsibility for anything. Slippery dude making bank. Has not accomplished anything as a HC.
October 22nd, 2025 at 7:07 pm
we need some plays that are more reliable for short yardage. Hero ball every other down is not working out. The offensive line was not good. Maybe switch Barton and Bredeson. Concerned. hope they get it worked out next game.
October 22nd, 2025 at 7:14 pm
So let me get this straight we are 5-2 and Grizz is responsible for the 5 wins and going to be head coach for somebody next year but Bowels is responsible for the 2 loses. Wait that’s not what Durango said he says the head coach is responsible for the whole team so if that is the case then he is responsible for the whole record so he might have point if we were 2-5 but we’re not.
October 22nd, 2025 at 7:23 pm
If we only had a competent coach…….
October 22nd, 2025 at 7:33 pm
Don’t overlook that Griz schemed Tez Johnson and Ebuka wide open for touchdowns andMayfield badly under threw EE and led Johnson by at least 10 yards. The issue with running the ball was Detroit was getting White in the backfield and he barely could get 2 yards.
The defense and offense have to start games with urgency and physicality. When you watch a Bucs game there are multiple players who don’t wrap up runners and get nuked out of their shoes.
October 22nd, 2025 at 7:44 pm
Todd, who is the head coach? Maybe if we had one he could help the rookie play caller. We know you’re the Swiss cheese coordinator.
October 22nd, 2025 at 7:52 pm
Bucs were intent on using Evans & Egbuka deep to take advantage of the injuries in the Lions’ Secondary. That strategy totally backfired.
Baker threw deep (over 15 yds) 13 times in the game, plus an additional 2 times that penalties negated the play. He connected on ONE deep pass … ONE. It was probably partially Baker, but no way was it all Baker.
Evans was thrown to … all deep … 5 times (1 negated by penalty). He caught NONE before his tragic injury. He hadn’t practiced with Baker the past week & I for one doubt that he was even close to 100%.
Egbuka was thrown to deep 6 times, and caught ONE for 18 yds. He also hadn’t practiced with Baker the past week & again I seriously doubt that he was even remotely close to 100%.
Sorry but that’s not good play-calling. Yes we fell behind early, but we beat ourselves by showing zero patience. We abandoned the run game far too early, and kept chucking it deep with incompletion after incompletion. And worse, we kept throwing it to 2 WRs neither of whom probably should’ve been on the field. One went 0-for-4 and the other went 4-for-12. Not gonna win many ballgames like that.
October 22nd, 2025 at 7:52 pm
Grizz is currently terrible at screening the ground game, but offense as a whole would’ve been fine and scored plenty of points if Baker would’ve been more accurate.
Hopefully just a fluke bad accuracy game for him
October 22nd, 2025 at 8:03 pm
Baker was throwing high all night and missing wide open chunk plays. We blaming the offensive coordinator for that now? Calling a play that worked out perfectly other than the QB hitting his mark?
October 22nd, 2025 at 8:03 pm
So if you are Grizz and Baker has been damn near perfect for the year…when do you start dumbing down your play calls and run the ball more…there were open receivers that Baker missed or his pass was swatted at the line of scrimmage…I would have liked to see more Play-action on 1st down…maybe roll Baker out…I do think Bake forces the ball to ME at times…we’ve seen Baker start slowly and pick it up…I think we are thinking to deep into this…he had an off night against a good team…basketball teams dont ask their best players to stop shooting when they are having an off night…
Clean some stuff up and go them aints!!!
Go Bucs!!!
October 22nd, 2025 at 8:03 pm
Durango 95 says Bowles never takes the blame. Does Bowles run the offense? Did he call the plays? Everyone is quick to blame Bowles. If a player misses a tackle it’s Bowles fault, if a player drops a pass , or fumbles it’s Bowles fault. Listen I’m a white guy, but I feel Todd gets more slack because of his skin color and it’s wrong!! I believe he is a good coach. He coaches with the players he has.,not his fault that we are dealing with so many injuries. We are 5-2 not 2-5 give it a rest.
October 22nd, 2025 at 8:12 pm
I really felt like Grizz was in shock when they handled (hit and sacked) Baker over and over again. So really I guess hid play calls were affected by the intensity and success of the Lions constant bull rush.
I’m not trying to start anything but,Joe, could you please get word to Grizz to cover his mouth every time he calls a play ?
There’s a reason why every other OC and DC in the league covers their mouth. It because teams read lips and steal plays !!
I see Grizz over and over again calling plays without his mouth covered !!
Go Bucs !! Beat the Saints !!
October 22nd, 2025 at 8:16 pm
This loss was on Baker and poor tackling.
Baker missed far too many open receivers and threw too many inaccurate balls.
October 22nd, 2025 at 8:18 pm
Fire Bowles and free this team.
October 22nd, 2025 at 8:19 pm
[Bullsh!t! Just because you don’t like it doesn’t mean it was wrong. That’s the exact word Bowles used in his quote. — Joe]
October 22nd, 2025 at 8:30 pm
I totally agree got away from running when they didn’t need to but the game just had that strange feeling we move on to the next let’s get 6-2 for the bye an ill be Damn Happy LFH
October 22nd, 2025 at 8:31 pm
Dude – don’t call people who criticize Bowles racist
Most the NFL is black – most professional athletes are black – you’re entitled to your opinion to think he’s a good coach, others are entitled to criticize without having their reputations attacked
The fans who criticize the coach think the talent on this team deserves better leadership, game planning, scheming and passion
October 22nd, 2025 at 9:02 pm
The Lions had a decimated secondary so it logical to throw,however, Baker was off all night and the wrs were not getting any separation and the oline was not holding up. Grizzard is still learning and he will get better from this experience.
October 22nd, 2025 at 9:06 pm
I feel that before the season began the majority did not think we would be 5 and 2 at this point or that we could be 6 and 2 at the break. So hop back on the wagon and enjoy the ride for the next ten games.
Meanwhile: Go Bucs! and slime the Saints!
October 22nd, 2025 at 9:08 pm
On my comment above, I meant Grizz is terrible at scheming the ground game.
October 22nd, 2025 at 9:17 pm
The Bowles haters will come out in full force, but ignore the idiots.
Coach is 100% right.
That game was entirely on the offense. From playcalling, to execution, to blocking, to lack of a running game, to bad route running and no separation, to bad throws, etc..
October 22nd, 2025 at 9:29 pm
Blame Baker for the 80 yard TD run
Blame Mike Evans for Amon running wild in the secondary.
Grizz is definitely at fault for allowing 2 touchdowns right off the bat.
Todd the Genius is going to get us to the SB with his garbage defense
October 22nd, 2025 at 10:00 pm
Lions usually hit 37 at home, we held them to 24, and the game wasn’t even close, hard to lay this on the defense
October 22nd, 2025 at 10:02 pm
50 Passes.
12 Rushes.
Says it all.
Wiz Kid didn’t have much of a groove for the first few games, but I don’t blame him since he was having to constantly adjust to injuries.
Once we got to the Seattle game, there he finally seemed to find a good balance of run and pass and the offense started looking more like the Coen offense. Then again vs the 49ers, same thing. But yeah, vs the Lions, no idea what happened, unless Baker decided to throw all those deep shots he kept missing (possible he was taking the deep read). Still, even if Baker was the one wanting the deep ball, it was pretty clear Baker wasn’t having a good night, and Wiz Kid didn’t really help him in the run game. Just 12 rushes, and most of them in very predictable run situations, and right up the gut.
Wiz Kid just needs to go back and rewatch film of Coen calling games, and just repeat what he was doing. You need to be creative in the run game (meaning not right up the middle on 1st down), and you need to get the ball out quick, in particular if the line is having protection issues and/or if Baker is having an off night.
The man from Lot Lizard has already shown he can do the job, so a kick in the rear from Bowles should get him back on track … I hope. We’ll find out on Sunday.
October 22nd, 2025 at 10:07 pm
That’s what happens when you win the coin toss and defer to the second half. Kicked to Detroit who scores over 30 points at home and go down 7 the first few minutes of the game. You play catch up with the pass game. Unfortunately Bucs never caught up enough to run the ball. Take the ball and score on the opening possession every chance you get .Keep their defense on the field to get tired faster and take advantage of it before halftime.
October 22nd, 2025 at 10:14 pm
Grizz was terrible. Outclassed and had no clear plan. He calls more games like that the Bucs will get to keep him.
October 22nd, 2025 at 10:22 pm
Not defending Grizz here cause it obviously wasn’t his best game but cripes. Bowles is quick to point at poor tackling and communication for when the D sucks. Grizz can’t get Mayfield on target, can’t help the refs when they botch an INT and Pi on Evans call.
I would have been a lil nervous about getting fast points and airing it out as well watching Lions TDS go for 27 and 78 yards. Might have to match the quick strike especially when Lions secondary was 2nd/3rd stringers!
OL got dominated, Baker was way off, Egbuka was at 85%, Evans goes down, Tez is running the wrong routes. That reflects on Grizz and he needs to be better but they all need to be better than that and they will be cause we have watched it in 5 other games, mostly.
October 22nd, 2025 at 10:55 pm
Winning the coin toss and deferring offense really cranked up cos of Arena Ball. It’s dumb, but whatever. Back in those days, AFL played on arena floors easily half the size of a NFL field. It doesn’t work well on a NFL space. Bucs win, GO Bucs!!
October 22nd, 2025 at 11:11 pm
The 69BlubberDorf actually presents an excellent point.
Since the players play, all a head coach needs to do is sit back and gain weight. When your players make the exact same mistakes over and over every week, it’s your job as head coach to let them play. They’ve played their whole lives, they know how to play. According to the 69er, Bowels isn’t expected to do anything except watch the failures and talk to the press about the things he won’t do to implement corrective actions.
Genius is as genius does.
Have a sausage.
October 22nd, 2025 at 11:33 pm
Just saying, if the offense would’ve scored of the multiple times, we got the ball back for them the game would’ve been even or we would’ve came out the winner
October 23rd, 2025 at 4:40 am
Grizz had a bad day at work like many of us do at times. Coen isn’t having a good time as HC now. This stuff happens. Not Todd’s fault either. Lessons learned from that game. The refs were definitely on the side of the Lions. Add the noise and being a night game under their dome didn’t help. Doug’s passing may have been on the players minds too, we fans were feeling the sorrow of his sudden death. They had heavy hearts too. The Bucs will bounce back this Sunday.
October 23rd, 2025 at 6:12 am
i’m no todd bowles defender but in the quote he uses the term “we” never “they” or “the offense” so he includes himself in the criticism, at least this time.
October 23rd, 2025 at 6:58 am
What a Bum.
October 23rd, 2025 at 8:03 am
Looked like a complete TEAM loss to me. The Offense wasn’t crisp. Even a little sluggish at .times. the Defense was soft no pass rush but when have we really rushed a passer this season plus the Defense was back to arm tackling & or completely missing their assignment. The lions came after Dennis just like everyone thought & he wasn’t any better than expected. We were beat by the better tram thats it. It’s gonna happen again until the Bucs get healthy & the coaches get the TEAM prepared better
October 23rd, 2025 at 8:05 am
remember the Eric Rhett days when the Bucs ran 40 times a game? every drive was 3.4 yds 3xs in a row =first down, …they should have run more in retrospect it was more successful than the short passing game that Detroit stuffed
October 23rd, 2025 at 8:13 am
Detroit has a very good front 7. This means running the ball and short passing was always going to be challenging, especially given we are missing our best two run blocking O Linemen. In a perfect world, we could have taken advantage of their weakened secondary, but our WR unit was just as weakened, and our line couldn’t hold up long enough to protect. If a few players get healthy, our fortunes could change, maybe after the bye week. And our schedule is about to get a lot easier.
October 23rd, 2025 at 8:31 am
Our offensive line got dominated. The Lions had an excellent defensive push all night. Barton and Heck were getting pushed into Baker all night. Running the ball will alleviate that, but you have to be patient. Plus the line needs to open holes for the running backs.
Switching Barton and Bredeson would help. With Heck we just have to wait for Goedeke to get healthy unless there is a Right Tackle we can trade for and get ready quickly. Like over the Bye week. Good offensive play ALWAYS starts with your line
Lions had a good game plan. Part of that was to push the envelope physically and see what they could get away with. The officials called little, and the rest is history. The league won’t do anything, so we just have to get healthy and beat NOLA. And next time RUN THE DAMN BALL!
October 23rd, 2025 at 9:43 am
Wow. If he said it in public I think that’s a lot of shade. I think he will get back in the groove Sunday.
October 23rd, 2025 at 10:57 am
Both Bredeson and Wirfs played a relatively good game. Offensive line problems come from RT and Center. Clean that up and our production will improve dramatically. Because of the constant collapsing Baker did not have the throwing lanes he needed.
All offenses game plan for throwing lanes – even ones with tall QBs. The fact that none were available is part of the reason passes were getting blocked. Lions studied the film well and put togethor a great plan.
Good offenses have good offensive lines. Ours is still a patchwork until Goedeke gets back.