Defending Todd Bowles (A Little)
December 15th, 2025
“You think I ordered Zyon McCollum to jump offside on a field goal?”
Look, does Joe have issues with Todd Bowles’ defense? Major.
Does Joe have issues with Bowles at times being seemingly oblivious to what’s happening on the field of play and not adjusting or making calls accordingly? Sure.
But for folks to directly pile on Bowles for the loss Thursday night like he was the lone problem is a little too much for Joe.
Oh yes, Bowles’ defense was a huge reason the Bucs lost, no doubt. His inability to craft a defense to stop people like Kirk “509” Cousins when he rips Bowles’ defense each time they play drives Joe nuts.
Frankly, Joe loved how Bowles unloaded on his players in his postgame remarks. What, should Zyon McCollum get a cookie and a participation trophy for jumping offsides on a field goal costing the Bucs four points?
Joe is confident Bowles didn’t order McCollum to do that. Shouldn’t a player kind of understand not to jump a snap when he’s playing Pee Wee ball?
Was it Bowles who threw a pick late? Was it Bowles’ fault a pass couldn’t connect with Emeka Egbuka late?
(If you want to blame Bowles for not ordering Bucs offensive coordinator Josh Grizzard to run the ball, OK, that’s fair.)
Was it Bowles who ordered four Bucs surrounding a loose football not to fall on it?
Even with Bowles having a trash can of a defensive plan, that game was still winnable Thursday if a handful of players had played smart football. Joe’s not giving Bowles a pass but his players were at fault as much as Bowles for that galling loss.
There's plenty of blame to go around in Tampa, even if Todd Bowles won't assume ANY of it. pic.twitter.com/P4l6xWEBRp
— Jim Rome (@jimrome) December 12, 2025
December 15th, 2025 at 3:51 am
The sad thing is there is plenty of blame to go around for all involved. Only exception would be for Mike Evans – man came back and played All-Pro in a team that looked anything but.
December 15th, 2025 at 3:57 am
Gotta disagree with you Joe. Todd is over his skis as a head coach and his defense is a joke. I am hoping that we still win the division but have zero faith in that dude anymore. If we win the division, it will be in spite of him and not because of him. Remember when we ran Dungy off for those playoff losses to the Eagles? This is the same exact thing except it’s the defense that is flaccid in this scenario
December 15th, 2025 at 4:02 am
Its so infuriating watching dude’s who’s profession is football be so completely low IQ about the game they play.
December 15th, 2025 at 4:12 am
No truer words spoken, but he is still 51% of the blame because going all the way back to the Super Bowl his defense has gotten worse and has stayed there. The team has taken on his persona. There is no fire to them anymore. He’s gotta go
December 15th, 2025 at 4:28 am
Lol oregon buc.. the winning “in spite of bowles” is a cute statement that has been making its rounds on social media the past couple years, but its such a lazy statement. If coaching doesn’t matter in wins, then stop blaming coaching in losses. Joe is correct, last year playoff game our 1st round pick calijah kancey amhad jayden daniels in his hands, not bowles fault… vita vea and company had tyler shough in their hands, not todd bowles fault.. sure todd bowles defense has sucked.
But I just watched a rams defense give up 34pts to a lions team that couldnt crack 25 vs the bucs.. I watched the packers defense give up 34pts to denvers bo nix. Sure those teams are more consistent.. but the bucs just need to get it right for one game in January, then its on to the next.
December 15th, 2025 at 4:32 am
Davidbigbucsfan99 in 2023 the bucs defense gave up 19.1ppg, which was seventh in the NFL… but everyone still whined and cried because of the pass defense. Even though ppg allowed is the most important stat.. man oh man, could you imagine if the bucs allowed 19.1ppg this year? They’d be 11-3
December 15th, 2025 at 4:46 am
Like Neil Young’s song, there comes a time, Bowles time has come. Seven years coaching in Tampa, four as the head man. There comes a time. At some point it comes for every coach, and player. The time has come for Bowles to retire, be fired. The time has come for a new direction, and leader. The time has come for Licht too.
December 15th, 2025 at 5:05 am
Well yeah, Joe. The players seemingly aren’t even trying. Especially the two games I had to listen to on the radio. I watched the online clips differently when I saw them because I didn’t actually get to see them live. Just no true effort. Is that on the players? Heck yeah. Is the coach blameless? Heck no! This BUCS team needs a good old fashion “hold the handle down” ultra flush. Make sure there’s nothing left in the Bowles.
December 15th, 2025 at 5:11 am
It’s not Bowles fault. If blame is to be placed then the Glazers should shoulder it.
We had our head coach in the building last year, and the Glazers let him walk. If the Glazers knew football, say like Robert Kraft, Liam Coen would be our head coach today while Terrible Todd was unsuccessfully luring bass to his boat in joyful retirement. Todd is financially set for life. Now let him go and enjoy it.
When I see what Coen has done with Jacksonville, and specifically with wild arm Trevor Lawrence who threw 5 TD’s yesterday, I almost become physically ill.
We had our future coach, and like most things Bucs we up and threw it away.
December 15th, 2025 at 5:39 am
Agree, Joe and agree with Rome. It’s not all on Todd. A lot of other components. However, many of this has been going on since the bye. Whatever is going on, should have been taken care of by now.
Steven #55 – Yes, agree. Mike has been the one that has been in there, thick and thin. He never gives up no matter what his injuries are. He came back to play last week. Awesome player on and off the field.
December 15th, 2025 at 5:46 am
It is Bowles’ fault. He built the culture that resulted in lazy, sloppy play. He calls the defensive scheme that his players are supposedly too ignorant to grasp. He was part of drafting players that just aren’t that good. He makes lousy decisions and zero game time adjustments. Why should he keep his job?
December 15th, 2025 at 6:03 am
It’s not all on Bowlzo, but there’s several players who won’t have jobs next year either. You want fries with that?
December 15th, 2025 at 6:08 am
Grizz’s perplexing use of RB’s adds to the problem. IMO, both Cohen and Grizz
used Bucky too much. He is missing playing time and has not been as effective as last year in the running game. Yes he had a 16 yard run early in the last game, but had a three yard average for the rest of the game. They also want to play
as next best option, who excels around the edge and has the ability to break one
with his speed. But he had one 6 yard carry and three carries for a total of one yard. Rashaad had one carry for 20 yards and no other chances . Grizz has reduced him to a bit player. Joe mentioned running the ball to help kill the clock.
White has proven himself to be pretty good inside runner this year getting nearly
a five yard average in some games. He got some chances in Saints game and was moving the chains down the field, and Grizz replaced him.
December 15th, 2025 at 6:21 am
It’s 100% Bowles fault. The team is molded by Bowles vision, yes Licht (with Bowles selects the players) but the product (not the players name) you see on the field was built by Bowles. Leading example, why the F do they have off four 4 days per Wirfs?
I know with league rules there is an allotted amount of padded practices you can do but I’m sure there’s no limitations to watching film, doing sprints, hitting the jugs, throwing routes etc. So again the mentality of the team was built by Bowles, they should’ve been running gassers and hitting sleds on Friday morning. Outside of a few players there are no warriors on this team. We’ll see if that changes in a week, hopefully they got their beauty rest
December 15th, 2025 at 6:23 am
Who didn’t know after the first few games that this team was never going to put it all together? Those early skin of the teeth wins told us all everything we needed to know.
Then the injuries. And the collapse of special teams.
This is a weak locker room on Defense.
And magically, when Mike Evans and McMillan returned, the Offense improved.
Th Offense should have sealed the deal. Baker missed the throw to Egbuka, who also drops passes. The pick was boneheaded. And they should have been running Tucker in that moment.
How many chances did the Defense have to save the game? Penalties on Atl, strip sack, 3 and 28 and then 4 and 14?
And Defense is Bowles’ specialty?
No, the blame is not only on Bowles. But he has to go. And so do a lot of starters on Defense.
December 15th, 2025 at 6:24 am
There’s plenty of blame to go around. And because of coaching ineptitude the Bucs are never prepared for night games and get blown away by Kirk Cousins. What is the definition of insanity again?
The Bucs were a few plays from changing the outcome of the game but overall you can’t say the Bucs didn’t deserve the L.
December 15th, 2025 at 6:33 am
Pack your bags Todd. You have most definitely worn out your welcome around here. YOUR team is an absolute train wreck. Time to go.
December 15th, 2025 at 6:38 am
maybe technically true, but the buc stops somewhere and the coach has to be responsible and accountable for the on field product.
if it isnt getting beat by 509 which is lack of prep, its allowing the culture of lazy and rot to fester.
todd bowles isnt the assistant to the assistant of the coordinator of uniforms. hes the head coach of an nfl franchise and he has gotten lazy. it shows in him, the team, and the results.
December 15th, 2025 at 6:52 am
Starts with Coach
His team culture
December 15th, 2025 at 6:56 am
The offense sucked and put up 28 points. I can live with that because 28 points wins a lot of games, IF you have even a mediocre defense. We don’t. We have Todd Bowles and his, “Maybe they’ll get tired of running up and down defense “. It seems like teams and individuals set new record highs against us every week. If we weren’t playing musical chairs with our OL every week we might be able to win a shoot out, but that hasn’t been the case. We finally have our weapons back, but we have a, not healthy to begin with, QB who is running for his life. Score points. Win games. Keep Licht. He’s the best GM this franchise has ever had. Retire Todd Bowles. Get better backups for the OL.
December 15th, 2025 at 7:27 am
This team needs an enema.
December 15th, 2025 at 8:05 am
Can’t defend how bad the secondary has been. It’s the worst I’ve ever seen and no adjustments being made.
December 15th, 2025 at 8:14 am
I don’t know how you can’t say the defense isn’t his fault. He has absolute power over the defense in every way, and it stinks.
December 15th, 2025 at 9:06 am
Bowles is the problem. In football, coaching is critically important, and I was reminded of that yesterday as I was watching the Broncos beat the Packers and move to 12-2. Sean Payton needed one year to turn things around in Denver. The Broncos are the team Tampa Bay should be. They have a great defense and an offense good enough to score points when needed. While the Broncos have been ascending, Tampa under Bowles has been treading water at best. Bowles is a mediocre coach, so it’s not surprising we get a mediocre product.
December 15th, 2025 at 9:41 am
Fire Todd
December 15th, 2025 at 9:52 am
He hires good QBs and,OC,s. His defensive draft picks,are,atrocities.
December 15th, 2025 at 10:13 am
You are right it’s not all Bowles fault, however there is something really wrong with this team and it all starts with the head coach. Hopefully if Bowles is not canned at the end of the season he and Licht can identify and cut the players who are not buying in and who just don’t seem to care.
December 15th, 2025 at 10:27 am
Joe … ‘Joe’s not giving Bowles a pass but his players were at fault as much as Bowles for that galling loss.’
Most JBFers have been saying that at least since our BYE Joe. We all recognize that football’s a TEAM sport, and that wins & losses require a TEAM effort.
Our coaching, in ALL 3 phases, has been dismal much of this season. When you ask players to do stupid things, they usually oblige. And in our case, our players have gone way beyond stupid on play after play.
Your example of ‘Was it Bowles who ordered four Bucs surrounding a loose football not to fall on it?’ is a perfect example. Bucs recover that football and the game is over. Instead FOUR Bucs let the opposing QB recover the fumble & beat them out of a victory. I remember watching that play & just being stupified. How in heaven’s name could that happen? It totally blew my mind. And no, Todd Bowles was NOT at fault for that. That’s just typical of these Bucs’ players not being able to come up with the BIG PLAY when it was right there for the taking. And they’ve done that all season long. What a shame.
December 15th, 2025 at 10:32 am
Good voice of reason Joe. Definitely not all his fault. The fans who are solely blaming him obvious don’t know what they are talking about. Coaches coach and players play. You said it perfect Joe. Was it Bowles who jumped offsides ? Was it Bowles who thru a terrible pick ? Was it Bowles who didn’t jump on the football ? Yup all Bowles fault haha they fans should be asking for common sense for Xmas
December 15th, 2025 at 10:43 am
How do you defend such ineptitude???
Having a defensive HC you would normally expect the defense to be at least slightly above dog vomit But it is worse.
And we get the same recycled excuses year after year after year.
There’s a certain crowd here with battered wife syndrome.
Yes he hurt me again, but he just loves me so much!
35 – 34
December 15th, 2025 at 11:23 am
How many games did the offense lose this year? How many by the defense? YOU make the call.
December 15th, 2025 at 1:30 pm
Saying one or two players not doing their job 1out of 5 times is the reason for these losses is ridiculous. If the defensive plan can be completely dismantled by one player’s action then the defensive plan is flawed.
And the refs taking so long to decide, giving Cousins time to get a hand on the ball should be reviewed by the replay booth. Why was only one camera angle shown on that play?