Tough Talk Todd Bowles
November 30th, 2025
Sharp words for his defense.
Even though Arizona scored the second-fewest points of the season, too often the Bucs seemed to be rolling over for the Cardinals.
Too often it seemed Arizona was able to move the ball with ease. Bucs fans were getting restless. So too was Bucs coach Todd Bowles.
At the two-minute warning near the end of the game with the Bucs leading by three and the Bucs about to punt, Bowles, who is also the Bucs’ defensive coordinator, went off on the defense.
It must have worked as the Bucs held Arizona to four-and-out and then the Bucs took over and went into victory formation.
The four-and-out to win the game, “it was a great feeling, especially after we just got chewed out on the sideline,” Bucs corner Jamel Dean said. “We bounced back and answered the bell.”
Joe asked Dean who chewed the defense out.
“The head man,” Dean said. “I guess that was the spark we needed.”
Dean wouldn’t divulge the nature of the one-way conversation. But Lavonte David did.
“He challenged us,” David said of Bowles’ tongue-lashing.
David lamented that the defense set the table with less than stellar play that motivated Bowles to unload.
“He shouldn’t have had to do that,” David said, suggesting the Bucs defense should have played better.
November 30th, 2025 at 5:35 pm
Would love a recording of that “chewing out.”
November 30th, 2025 at 5:35 pm
Take out the papers and the trash
Yakety Yak Yakety Yak
November 30th, 2025 at 5:37 pm
bowles needs to WTFU during games if he wants to stay employed. even he knows his defense has the potential for collapse every single drive. no doubt he saw another collapse leading to a last second loss so decided to actually say something first.
dumb cards staying inbounds helped their last drive collapse. they did the bucs d some favors with their stupid play.
November 30th, 2025 at 5:38 pm
Todds in trouble when he gets home!
November 30th, 2025 at 5:38 pm
Missing tackles…..coverage too soft on short passes……defense got gashed in the run game…
Riley Dixon & Chase bailed us out…..
November 30th, 2025 at 5:40 pm
Can’t wait to see us perform against a Carolina team who seems way more physical and faster. Our interior o-line will have its hands full with Brown and we better be gap sound and tackle. No reason for Dean to lie, credit Bowels for showing fire and pushing the D to make a stop. Huge win against a bad team but a win is a win.
November 30th, 2025 at 5:43 pm
2 sacks, one interception, and two stops on 4th and 2. One at the end of the game.
Not a bad outing. Like Joe said, Cards are a tough out.
Although that doesnt fit some narratives….
November 30th, 2025 at 5:43 pm
Trademark Tood. Blame everyone else. Tough talk Bowleszo, zero action Bowleszo. So fatigued by his overrated overseployed arse
November 30th, 2025 at 5:44 pm
A win is not a win unless you’re a loser waving a Pom Pom.
November 30th, 2025 at 5:45 pm
This was a Georgia vs Charlotte game.
Barely won a game you should have dominated by 20+.
Instead we got lucky and acted like it was the SB.
You have to win the next two for it to mean anything.
9-5 is the only way we have a shot at the division.
Carolina beat a team that n]made us look like a pee wee leagee team.
November 30th, 2025 at 5:50 pm
Fire Todd
November 30th, 2025 at 5:54 pm
But soft pass coverage has ALWAYS been a problem with this defense since Todd Bowles arrived in Tampa……..
So he just needs to look in the mirror 🪞 if he wants to find the root cause of why the defense performs poorly.
November 30th, 2025 at 5:58 pm
You’d think professional football players wouldn’t need to be screamed at by Todd. But, Todd’s screaming to save his job.
November 30th, 2025 at 5:59 pm
Todd’s screaming to save his job.
November 30th, 2025 at 5:59 pm
Look I’m over Bowles and all but some accountability for the players would be welcome. Bowles isn’t the one getting manhandled, missing tackles, embarrassing themselves. It was a complete disgrace
November 30th, 2025 at 6:00 pm
This team is decadent and weak, just like the West.
-Putin
November 30th, 2025 at 6:09 pm
Todd needs to man up and chew some ass during practice, not wait until the 2 minute warning of a crucial game. He is no leader of men.
November 30th, 2025 at 6:11 pm
Say, Todd, your defense plays badly every Sunday They gotta be capable of playing better. Because at times, they absolutely suck. So if thats what it takes? Start giving them Hell. every Sunday.
November 30th, 2025 at 6:16 pm
Words are nice but Todd needs to start benching players to show accountability. He nevers does that. He might be liked by his players and is a nice guy but nice guys get boat raced in the NFL. I fear the Bucs will go 3-2 or 4-1 to finish the season and Todd keeps his job after losing in the first round to the Rams or Seahawks. If Carolina were to win the division (meaning Tampa lost to them, probably twice). Would that get Todd launched? I guess that would do it if I were the Glazers. We shall see. Carolina got 3 turnovers and a from the Rams, look back at what Todd did…… Sad….
November 30th, 2025 at 6:22 pm
Does anyone really think this was a great defensive performance? If you do, I’ll sell you the Brooklyn Bridge at a really fair price.
November 30th, 2025 at 6:25 pm
Just got a transcript of Bowels'”chewing out”
“You guys need to play better…..we need to coach better”
November 30th, 2025 at 6:31 pm
Just saw the transcript of Todd’s “chewing out”
“You guys need to play better……we need to coach better”
@joe why did it take until 2 mins left in the game for them to get chewed out?
That is the problem, this defense plays with no anger or emotion
1) Funny joke there.
2) Who said they didn’t get chewed out earlier?
3) Who said Bowles is only coach that gets on players?
November 30th, 2025 at 6:32 pm
It was great seeing our D make that final stop. The scary thing is that many of us , including me, weren’t expecting them to be able to do it as it is something they struggle with from week-to-week, putting all of the weight to win on our offense.
Kudos to our defense for making a game-winning stop today!!
November 30th, 2025 at 6:33 pm
Agree with most in here – I’m sure there will be the obligatory commenters that say “you aren’t real fans” (lol) or something, but maybe we live in reality. The reality is that 8-9 or 9-8 every year with a defense that makes any quarterback look like a combination of Dan Marino and Joe Montana – it’s not good enough. This is similar to why Dungy was eventually let go. We hit our ceiling. They needed a new voice, and some juice. A positive though – Bucky looked fantastic, and Godwin made me eat my words for a game. GOOD. Prove me wrong. Show me you’re the Godwin of 2019 or something. Between those two things, the return of Jalen McMillan – I like it. If Baker can get some ol better pass pro, and if he can be more consistent with accuracy, then they can be frisky
November 30th, 2025 at 6:33 pm
This team has become unwatchable. Soft a$$ defense, predictable offense, ST…still giving up big plays. For a team with this much talent to week after week (4 in a row) preform as they did today, it is on the coaches. This IS Lovie Smith sad.
November 30th, 2025 at 6:34 pm
So we can’t criticize the coach now?
November 30th, 2025 at 6:40 pm
Reality Bucs Fans
Panthers are playing excellent and just beat the Rams
If Bucs don’t win Division Very Good chance we are home for playoffs
This was a Team being called to make Superbowl and now we will be lucky to get to Playoffs
Coach Change needed PERIOD
November 30th, 2025 at 6:41 pm
I get it’s football and anything can happen but after the total lack of effort last week you would think the defense would really play their tails off. I didn’t see it. They looked like they were going through a practice session with very little life. Not sure what is going on with this team but they better straighten it out in a hurry
November 30th, 2025 at 6:45 pm
Watching this team play, especially the defense, is like being in a room tied to a chair while a toddler plays with a handgun.
November 30th, 2025 at 6:48 pm
Todd needs to bench some guys. Start with McCollum. Send Reddick packing. Hall makes a play every third game. Dennis is great chasing guys down after he lets them catch the ball. AWJ plays with one eye looking to the locker room. And. Hate to say it, but my #1 guy LVD is doing nothing. Dean must be hurt cause he’s not running like he did earlier in the season. Whatever happened to playing with resiliency went out the window during the bye week.
November 30th, 2025 at 6:56 pm
I guess I’m a loser waving a Pom Pom. I am glad that we won today. We got enough from our defense to just eke out that win. What we lack is a Simeon Rice or a Jason Pierre-Paul. Haason Reddick is a major disappointment.
Go Bucs!
November 30th, 2025 at 7:08 pm
LakelandSteve
What is happening is that this team from the FO all the way down is content to be mediocre.
Bowles in his 60’s is more into hanging out and getting along than coaching a football team. But Hey, they’ve got great culture.
All of this, he’s that man stuff and drafting play players who love football seems like a load of crap to me when you watch them all stand around and watch the other team run by them. Brooks, Sapp and Lynch didn’t need any extra motivation or chewing out.
November 30th, 2025 at 7:08 pm
These guys are all happy-go-lucky losers. Snake-bitten by mediocrity coming from the top down. Saw Bowles say this was a “gutsy, grind-out win” against a 3-8 team at home. Gimme a break, your team emulates your sorry a$$
November 30th, 2025 at 7:08 pm
Tackling in this game might have been the poorest all season. For our HC to be an old school secondary player, his CBs and Safeties don’t seem to know how to wrap up. Winfield seems to be terribly out of position on run plays and Smith simply whiffed on at least three plays in the backfield. At this point in the season, year 4 for Bowles as HC, the attention to detail and consistency just isn’t there on the defensive side of the ball. The offense you could give some slack to, they’ve literally had a different OC every year but the defense is about as good as it’s going to get and it’s not enough to compete with teams with winning records. We’ll see where the chips fall but Carolina looks capable of knocking us off our thrown.
November 30th, 2025 at 7:20 pm
Zyon is playing scared. He’s 6 yards off every single receiver because he’s terrified to get beat over the top. He was getting better and better each year, mostly when he played tight and pressed. Not sure what happened this year.
Reddick is a bust. I was so psyched to see him with this D line but it was a complete failure. I would not blame LICHT, it was a good signing and a good one year prove it deal. They don’t all work.
Dennis is not what we thought he was. The first four rounds of the NFL draft, in no particular order, will include 1 edge and 2 ILB’s.
They also need better depth at guard and tackle, but who doesn’t.
OR, better yet, make a trade for a known commodity at edge because the Buccaneers track record of drafting one is atrocious.
Yaya is very good, but not the dominant stud they need yet.
November 30th, 2025 at 7:27 pm
This defensive coach is going to get beatin badly and swept by the Panthers. There will be NO PLAYOFFS THIS YEAR. Book it!
November 30th, 2025 at 7:43 pm
About 3 weeks late. Took Todd Bowles three consecutive losses giving up NFL records of chunk plays before showing any emotion to his defense.
November 30th, 2025 at 8:14 pm
I think the D-backs need to spend all week on basic tackling drills. My 7th graders show better tackling form…
As for the draft – Sonny Styles at ILB in the first round, find a decent edge in the 2nd and then another ILB in the 3rd. Find a project corner in the 4th, and the start looking for a backup guard. There – done.
November 30th, 2025 at 8:22 pm
Defense looked pathetic. There is no other way to put it. If they dont figure it out and make underperformed players step up we are going to get crushed by the Panthers.
November 30th, 2025 at 8:35 pm
No matter how many guys come back from injury on the offense, we still have Toad’s defense – which remains pathetic. If we get there, we’ll be one and done with more opposing fans in the stands than Bucs fans.
November 30th, 2025 at 8:49 pm
@@@@@I want to know why I can not post comments on here anymore. I’ve been on here since this site started.@@@@@@@@@@@@
November 30th, 2025 at 8:50 pm
@@@@@I want to know why I can not post comments on here anymore. I’ve been on here since this site started.@@@@@@@@@@@@Other people have no problems, SO WHAT IS THE DEAL??cccc333
November 30th, 2025 at 8:59 pm
Perhaps it’s all the @@@ signs?
November 30th, 2025 at 9:06 pm
FUBAR. Get a head coach!
November 30th, 2025 at 10:07 pm
The problem with this defense is Bowles. Chew the players out all you want, but you are the issue. Be the HC, not the damn DC and HC.
November 30th, 2025 at 11:59 pm
Hey bowles hope you spend all day doing tackling drills till there so tired they cant stand up. They were awful today !! How is this team coached this far into the season and they keep missing tackles ! ?? Got to do better .
December 1st, 2025 at 12:28 am
Carolina beat a team that made us look like a pee wee leagee team.
_____________________
and LAST WEEK they couldn’t do anything against the 49ers-a team that we easily beat. if you think the panthers are a better team than the rams, you don’t know football at all.
stafford (the favorite for the mvp this season) had a bad game and had 4 turnovers. it happens. maybe their offense was worn out from running up and down the field so much against our trash defense last week?
maybe the rams didn’t bother practicing for the panthers and took the week off. who knows? every now and then a really great team will just completely sh!t the bed against a terrible team.
December 1st, 2025 at 9:54 am
Panthers didn’t beat the Rams. The Rams beat themselves. They were in position to win the game and Stafford fumbled. Three turnovers from the guy who was supposed to be the MVP. Quit over-inflating the Panthers. They are improved but still mediocre.
December 1st, 2025 at 12:27 pm
Maybe he should try chewing them out every week? Maybe even in practice too?
What a crazy idea huh
December 1st, 2025 at 1:42 pm
Holding your players accountable makes them play better???
Who could have guessed that?
December 1st, 2025 at 2:02 pm
LANshark there are no decent edge rushers in the 2nd round. They’re all a crapshoot there- either a great athlete with subpar production or a great producer lacking athleticism. You don’t get both positives in round 2. There could still be really good linebackers there though. And Styles will be gone before we pick.
December 2nd, 2025 at 3:21 am
Todd Bowles just needs a prime Khalil Mack or T.J. Watt and the narrative around his defense changes drastically. Stop drafting undersized career 4-3 defensive ends (Noah Spence, Anthony Nelson) or undersized DL (Hall, Kancy, Diaby) and expect them to convert to 3-4 outside linebackers or NFL sized 3-4 DE. It’s a completely different scheme. Even JTS was a DE coming out of a high school.
Maybe if we would have drafted TJ Watt instead of OJ Howard, we wouldn’t be in this dilemma! Honestly, most (not all) GM’s who passed on TJ Watt deserve to get canned or forfeit a % of their salary for malpractice.