Shuffling The Special Teams
November 19th, 2025
On notice.
For Joe, there was no question that the loss to Buffalo was Todd Bowles’ worst-coached game this year. Easily.
Punting when no one in their right mind should have punted, allowing the matador defense the of the Bucs to be on the field when the Bucs needed a stop. That was the most egregious error Bowles made.
Doing nothing about the kickoff coverage debacle was nearly as bad.
Joe cannot remember any team averaging 39 yards a return in a game unless they had just one, maybe two kick returns. That wasn’t the case Sunday.
Bowles after the game told Joe he “talked about” just kicking the ball out of bounds to prevent returns. That never happened. Meanwhile, Buffalo was starting drives at midfield, or in Bucs territory.
Joe still isn’t sure what Bowles was waiting on. Maybe he wanted Buffalo to set a kick return record first?
The kick team was so bad, Bowles earlier this week vowed changes. And apparently, the kick team is on notice.
Bowles today was asked if there may be practice squad guys promoted to play on the kickoff team. Bowles said all options are on the table.
“We’re trying different guys in different spots,” Bowles said. “We’ll move some guys around, and if worse comes to worst, we’ll try to kick it out [of bounds].
“But it’s got to get better – we’ll work on that this week, and that’s what we’ve been focusing on.”
On Monday, Bowles said guys on the kickoff team didn’t want to tackle. Good grief, you have one job and that is to tackle! Holy cow.
If those culprits were only on special teams, Joe would have launched them before the flight home touched ground at TPA. You can’t tell Joe there aren’t dudes out there hungry for a job in the NFL who wouldn’t want to tackle in order to get an NFL check.
Maybe launching a couple of players might snap the Bucs out of their funk? This team, specifically the defense the past two weeks, needs to snap out of it. Immediately.
Here comes Sean McVay and Matt Stafford!
November 19th, 2025 at 5:41 pm
Buckle up Bucs, we bout to Buck up the Rams.
November 19th, 2025 at 5:44 pm
All words from Bowles and no action. No accountability and in the end the failure is on him. As a fan, I have not been so frustrated since the season where Koetter said Smitty was safe after he let Chicago boat race him. He did get launched by the Glazers a week later after they made Dirk do a 180 when the ATL scored 35 in the first half. Like Koetter, Bowles is too loyal to his guys or thinks he can fix the prob and it could get him fired.
November 19th, 2025 at 5:59 pm
cant launch anyone, cause, culture.
people need to get shown the door if they dont appreciate as you say, a chance to get an nfl check. do your job or we’ll find someone who will should be the message.
November 19th, 2025 at 6:08 pm
Todd is just shuffling deck chairs on the Titanic.
November 19th, 2025 at 6:16 pm
They are going to do nothing! Zero, NADA, cypher changes because:
1. Bucs value culture they have. Everybody loves each other and the HC is loved by the players.
2. The “system” is too complex for mere mortals to comprehend. (This is primary reason for no mid-season infusion of talent.)
3. TB and JL like the way things are. No club house lawyers here!
4. Neither TB or JL are worried about their job. Glaziers are asleep.
November 19th, 2025 at 6:19 pm
We lost for a lot of reasons last Sunday.
Special teams was certainly a big part of it.
An average 39 yards per return is pretty historic. Or tragic. Or poignant.
What frustrates me most is Todd Bowles comment “we talked about it”.
There are no words I can offer to describe what that comment is doing to my brain when I think about it.
I mean, nightmares have to end sometime, right?
November 19th, 2025 at 6:23 pm
We called our kickoff team the wild bunch in high school. It was an honor to be on that team. I returned punts and was an outside runner on kickoff team-the wild bunch. I liked to tackle. Heck, I just loved to hit. Surely we have some guys like that.
November 19th, 2025 at 6:23 pm
Maybe Bowles was concerned that his team might actually win the game against the odds.
November 19th, 2025 at 6:26 pm
We lost for a lot of reasons last Sunday.
Special teams is certainly one of them.
An average 39 yards per return is pretty historic.
The tragic poignancy of the situation is Todd Bowles’ comment “we talked about it”.
There are no words I can offer to describe what that comment is doing to my brain.
I mean, nightmares have to end sometime, right?
November 19th, 2025 at 6:30 pm
This loser still our coach?
November 19th, 2025 at 6:31 pm
Special Teams players don’t want to tackle. Oh my maybe we can ask the Rams if they are willing to play flag football. I think the no tackling was passed down from others playing defense.
November 19th, 2025 at 6:33 pm
I watched all of those returns on YouTube’s key 50 plays for the Bucs-Bills game. In each case McLaughlin seemed to kick it straight down the middle of the field, and each time looked like it would’ve landed at about the 5-yard line when the returner caught it.
Also looked to me like the kick returner was already at about the 10 yd line, full speed ahead, before our S/T guys even moved. They seemed to remain pretty much line abreast, and just a couple of good blocks created a gaping hole that the returner accelerated through easily, with just #4 waiting to tackle him. As it turned out though, Chase didn’t get any tackles Sunday (even though he had several good opportunities).
The new kickoff routine obviously requires changes to how we used to do things, but wow, our coaches need to be talking STRATEGY. Kick it to 1 side or another. Kick it into the end zone & accept bringing it out the 35-yard line. Heck, kick it out-of-bounds like Todd keeps saying & let them have it at the 40-yd line. Anything’s better than what we saw Sunday.
November 19th, 2025 at 6:42 pm
From what I understand, Izien and Hayes were the biggest culprits, leaving their outside contain lanes. Bowles ain’t going to launch either one of them!
November 19th, 2025 at 6:48 pm
Dont warn them. Sit them down or back to the PS. Wont have any problem finding someone that will go for a career. Quit being sentimental. That part is screwing you Todd.
November 19th, 2025 at 6:53 pm
Matador defense.
I just herniated a disc laughing at this. Perfect, Joseph!!!!
November 19th, 2025 at 7:01 pm
Bowles has never had good special teams. He’s clueless on how to fix it.
November 19th, 2025 at 7:08 pm
Ownership needs to shuffle the coach to a beach.
November 19th, 2025 at 7:23 pm
Kicking our of bounds would be embarrassing …..just kick it deep into the end zone….or kick it short of the landing zone.
November 19th, 2025 at 7:25 pm
“That decision is in committee” says Todd.
November 19th, 2025 at 8:13 pm
Rearranging deckchairs on the Titanic
November 19th, 2025 at 8:26 pm
How stubborn/oblivious/ignorant can a HC be? Bowles seems to have gotten waaayy too comfortable in his position. Be nice if the Glazers gave him a powerpoint presentation on why they gave Dungy and Gruden the boot.
November 19th, 2025 at 8:40 pm
Rams are going to destroy them on SNL.
Sad…
Go Bucs
November 19th, 2025 at 8:59 pm
Rams 27 Bucs 10
November 19th, 2025 at 9:03 pm
I don’t recall if Garrett Greene covered kickoffs in the preseason, but the regular season guys sure aren’t. Bring him up. Seems like a guy who is willing to do whatever it takes to help. Might just make a key reception or two as well.
November 19th, 2025 at 9:08 pm
Hey Todd. Watch other teams tape and steal their plays. You can do it!
November 19th, 2025 at 9:13 pm
yea they were shuffling around
November 19th, 2025 at 9:57 pm
Here’s a thought try coaching your players
November 19th, 2025 at 10:19 pm
PFF grades for the Bucs special teams by week…
Vs Falcons – 76.1
Vs Texans – 59.5
Vs Jets – 62.5
Vs Eagles – 53.0
Vs Seahawks – 60.9
vs 49ers – 60.1
Vs Lions – 58.8
Vs Saints – 83.8
Vs Pats – 55.1
Vs Bills – 64.9
The Bucs special teams had their 3rd best game of the year vs the Bills – why are people saying they were bad?
November 19th, 2025 at 10:33 pm
Rod. I remember opening day Falcons missing field goal and extra point and we remember Jets game and blocked field goal for a touchdown. I think maybe this PFF bunch needs a little work. I’m thinking the awful kickoff team was worse than the blocked field goal against the Jets or even the blocked punt against Philly. Our special teams laid its very biggest stinker last Sunday. Whew. Still reeks.
November 19th, 2025 at 11:24 pm
feel like the best coached prt of the game was griz and the run game. reminded me of coen last season
November 19th, 2025 at 11:38 pm
Fish stinks from the head down.
November 20th, 2025 at 12:40 am
Yeah rod I don’t know how they grade that. Maybe our returns were decent.. I can tell you buffalo had a short field basically every return.
November 20th, 2025 at 1:01 am
Todd Bowles is my generations Tony Dungy….we’ll keep doing 9-8 / 10-7 average seasons until glazers get pissed & want to shake it up. Until Bowles is gone I expect the typical 10-7 mediocrity at best. History repeats itself