Bucs coach Todd Bowles barks at a referee in the Bucs’ embarrassing loss to the Rams Sunday night.

This is a depressing one so you will likely need more than one cup of the real stuff to get you going this morning. Black, of course.

This Team Could Be On Verge of a Collapse

There was very little Joe liked when it came to the Bucs’ play Sunday night. They clearly were not ready to play. Defensively, they seemed shocked not only at what Sean McVay threw at them, but how Matt Stafford threw the ball.

It was like these guys never saw Stafford before. They played with a team speed, quickness and with a purpose that totally caught the Bucs by surprise.

How could they be surprised? But that’s what they looked like.

Now Joe knows Sean McVay usually coaches rings around Todd Bowles. But man, that game was all but over with in the first quarter. It looked sort of like how Notre Dame was up 21-0 in the first quarter against Syracuse before Notre Dame snapped the ball once on offense.

The game was over when Bowles panicked and tried to convert a fourth down from the Bucs-28 late in the second quarter. Huh?

But it just shocked Joe how stunned and surprised the unprepared Bucs were. Stafford looked like he was in a seven-on-seven league.

This Is Just A Bad Team

It pains Joe to type the following, but we have to start being real. Since the bye, the Bucs are not a playoff team. They aren’t even a good team. They look like some of the rotten Bucs teams that former Bucs commander Greg Schiano had, lousy Lovie Smith had and Mike Smith was responsible for.

Hell, even last year when the Bucs had injuries pile up, they didn’t get blown out like they have the past three games. Sure, Baltimore beat the Bucs up pretty good. But that same injured Bucs team took Kansas City to overtime and San Francisco needed a last-second field goal to win.

This Bucs team? They’re getting seal-clubbed week after week. Good teams don’t regularly get seal-clubbed. The Bucs played three real Super Bowl contenders the past three weeks and got their arses handed to them each week.

That’s what happens to bad teams.

Does Todd Bowles Have An Answer?

It sure doesn’t seem like Bowles has any sort of an answer to fixing this defense. In the past three games, all since the bye, the Bucs’ defense has allowed 1,182 total yards, or an average of 384 yards a game.

That’s the kind of s(p)it you would see during the Lost Decade. Baker Mayfield hollers at these guys and the defense doesn’t change. Lavonte David hollers at these guys and the defense doesn’t change.

Has Bowles lost his defense? Has the defense tuned Bowles out? When a coach has no answer to change the fortunes of his team, in this case Bowles and his defense, and the same crap happens over and over and over, either that means you have no talent on one side of the ball or the message is too old and going in and out of players’ ears.

What Was Bowles Thinking?

Joe is hearing and typing this way too many times. What was Bowles thinking?

Just yesterday, the Cowboys, not a playoff team, was down by 20 to the defending Super Bowl champs. What happened? Dallas won! So teams do rally from down three touchdowns.

Apparently, Bowles has little faith in his offense. That stunt he pulled going for it on fourth down from the Bucs-28 with less than two minutes left doomed the game.

Three touchdowns to overcome is a lot, but it happens from time to time as Dallas proved yesterday. Get your defense to get a stop and then score points.

Talk about waving the white flag! Talk about giving up and surrendering. Like Joe’s good friend Mike Tanier wrote last week, it’s hard to take the Bucs’ seriously when their coach surrenders. Well, Bowles did it again last night. On national TV. Again.

The Baker Mayfield Injury

It was gutless of Bowles to keep Baker Mayfield in the game since he was already hurt after Bowles elected to try to go for it from the Bucs-28 late in the first half. Joe can understand this call in the fourth quarter but with just under two minutes left? Crazy.

Of course, Bowles left Mayfield, who was already hurt, in the lost cause of a game and sure enough on the last play of the first half Mayfield gets hurt.

Irresponsible!

Folks, this season is toast if Mayfield is out four or more games. The cavalry won’t return soon enough to save the Bucs, If Mayfield is out the next month, not only will the Bucs not be in the playoffs, but the Bucs could be looking at a top-10 pick in the draft next spring.

Joe has a very, very, very bad vibe about this team, from the play on the field to the inability to coach guys up to team leaders not getting through to their teammates.

This team could go south very, very quickly.

Bonus: Joe has good luck in Los Angeles.

Joe has now been to Los Angeles three times for Bucs games. Two against the Rams, one against the Chargers. Covered a game at the historic Coliseum and two at SoFi Stadium (which is sandwiched between the old historic Los Angeles Forum and the new Intuit Dome (where the Clippers play).

Joe told the story about how a total stranger helped Joe find his car last year. Well, Joe didn’t lose a car this time, but two of the Rams ‘ media relations staff sure helped Joe save a lot of time and walking.

After the game, Joe (and the only other two media members from the Tampa region who made the trip), were lost trying to find the Bucs’ locker room. These stadiums, especially newer stadiums, are massive, seemingly an endless concourse in the bowels of the stadiums.

Only once has Joe ever had someone escort Joe to the Bucs locker room. The vast majority of the time the home team’s staff are rent-a-cops and they largely have zero clue where locker rooms are. You ask where a locker room is and the response is often a blank stare as if you asked where they were hiding a UFO wreckage.

So what Joe does is about every 10 yards asks a staffer where the Bucs locker room is. Eventually, by accident, you will find it.

And finding an elevator back to the press box is the exact same hassle, only in reverse.

Last night Joe asked someone about the elevator. Joe was hoping not to have to walk to the other side of SoFi Stadium. A woman by the name of “Kalyn” told Joe to follow her. Turns out she works in the Rams’ media relations office. She knew what she was doing. She knew where she was going and she too was headed back to the press box.

Thank you, Kalyn.

Then, after Joe had filed five stories, time to pack up and find an Uber back to the hotel. So Joe asked the Rams’ media relations people where to find the best place to catch an Uber. A guy tells Joe where to go and then he says, “You know what? I’ll take you there.” He brings Joe to a golf cart and drives Joe to a 7-11 right across the street from one of the massive parking lots at SoFi.

Turns out this man was Artis Twyman, the Rams’ vice president of communications. How cool was that? A Rams suit offered to help out an out-of-town reporter.

Joe’s day began with kindness, too. Joe’s hotel had a shuttle to the stadium and back for $25 round trip, half the cost of an Uber round trip. Joe confirmed they were able to pick up Joe late. After Joe paid, not only did they overcharge Joe by $115, the charge tripped the fraud protection on Joe’s card, suspending it. The shuttle owner then found out the Rams wouldn’t let him in the parking lots at a late hour for a pickup.

They felt so bad that they both overcharged Joe, locking up his card and being unable to pick Joe up, they gave Joe a free ride to the stadium.

So Joe had three pieces of unexpected kindness from his Sunday in Los Angeles. Thanks to all three for their help!