Todd Bowles: Yes, The Bucs Missed Chris Godwin (And His Blocking)
December 1st, 2025
Yes, Todd Bowles missed Chris Godwin.
Joe is still stoked about Bucky Irving’s touchdown run yesterday.
Not only did Bucky, once he began shaking off the rust, show how badly the Bucs missed him, there was something else on the play the Bucs missed.
That was Chris Godwin’s blocking.
Right tackle Luke Goedeke pulled left and he initially got Bucky to the line of scrimmage. But it was Godwin who fully cleared a path for Bucky to house the ball.
Yesterday, Joe asked Godwin in the postgame locker room if the team missed his blocking. Typical humble Godwin, he waved that idea away and said the Bucs need blocking downfield from everyone, not just him.
But about the same time Joe was talking to Godwin, someone asked Todd Bowles if the team missed Godwin’s blocking.
Yes, Bowles said, and more that folks don’t often see on TV or All-22.
“Not only his blocking, his intelligence when Baker [Mayfield] breaks the pocket of understanding underneath coverages and knowing how to separate and where to go and being in the right spot to give him an outlet that way, and Baker trusting that,” Bowles said.
As good as Emeka Egbuka and Tez Johnson are showing to be, developing that feel between a quarterback and a receiver is a long process, Bowles said.
“With a lot of young guys, that takes time, but with Chris there, they have that kind of chemistry and he kind of knows where to go and see some things.
“[Godwin and Mayfield] have this sixth sense that they can see things and be on the same page, so we missed that a lot.”
And maybe more of that veteran savvy is around the corner. Today is Dec. 1, believe it or not. When Mike Evans first broke his clavicle, the target date for his return was the end of December.
JoeBucsFan.com columnist Ira Kaufman told Joe he heard from someone with the Bucs who has knowledge of Evans’ rehab that he could be on a practice field by the middle of the month if all continues to go well. (Ira talks more about that in his Monday podcast, which is forthcoming.)
Evans was on the sidelines yesterday and signing lots of autographs. No sling. A week ago, Jalen McMillan was on the Bucs’ sidelines in Los Angeles. Yesterday, it was learned McMillan is scheduled to return to practice this week.
Could Evans’ appearance on the Bucs’ bench yesterday foretell his return to practice shortly?
Welcome back, Bucky Irving. pic.twitter.com/ROcfHSNtA4
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) November 30, 2025
December 1st, 2025 at 5:31 am
Eat that W!
Victory Monday!
Fire the Cannons!
Go Bucs!
Haters gonna hate, players gonna play! I’m watching meaningful Bucs football in December!
December 1st, 2025 at 6:26 am
The Tez negated touchdown was a weaker block than that. I was waiting for a flag tbh lol
December 1st, 2025 at 8:47 am
Fire Todd
December 1st, 2025 at 9:42 am
Godwin is slowly getting over the mental aspects of that fractured ankle. With that being said…catch the d-mn ball
December 1st, 2025 at 10:08 am
Having Godwin back healthy is huge!
Glad he’s back
December 1st, 2025 at 10:30 am
Yet THEY STILL, just barely beat one of THE WORST teams in the entire league, who have now LOST NINE of their last TEN GAMES. At HOME, too!!!! So, okay then… GrrrrREAT JOB, guys! We really something here. LoL.
December 1st, 2025 at 10:54 am
MelvinJunior – the Cardinals have lost like 7 of their games by one score. It’s just what they do. Take the win and stop nitpicking so much; we just got out of the third hardest stretch of schedule in the league, with one of the longest Injury Reports in team history. Things are looking up.
December 1st, 2025 at 11:05 am
Wait until we have Jalen and Mike back along with Chris. The trifecta!
December 1st, 2025 at 11:46 am
This team is going to get a lot stronger in the last month of the season and may be riding a 6 game winning streak into the playoffs. THAT’S how you want to be- get hot late. Let’s just avoid any more big injuries for the rest of the season and then roll in the playoffs!
December 1st, 2025 at 12:28 pm
The O-line was a sieve that first quarter. Needs fixing.
December 1st, 2025 at 12:33 pm
Godwin’s still rusty, not yet in game shape. Missed an easy TD catch yesterday plus a couple of long gainers. Give him time to get back – then we’ll see what happens.
Vegasbuc says “Fire Todd.” Yeah, he really screwed up, failing to tell professional football players that when they see somebody running toward them carrying a football, tackle him, don’t just pat him on the thigh as he runs past you, like I saw 4 players on one run play do, as the guy with the ball was running toward the zero yard line!
December 1st, 2025 at 1:22 pm
A real fan should absolutely criticize that abomination disguised as a win yesterday. The only things missing were allowed blocked punts or kicks and allowed long returns. Yippee. The offense and defense both sputtered and lurched, neither demonstrating any consistency. It’s week 13 fer criminies sake. This should be the time where your machinery is operating with that well-oiled smoothness.
Not our Todd.
December 1st, 2025 at 4:13 pm
You know what the fans really missed the 2023 bucs defense are they taking calls we would love to have them back.
December 1st, 2025 at 9:24 pm
Grizz should limit his targets like he did Sunday. Dont want to use a productive guy and be known as predictable. I’m not sure who Griz creates anything for. Egbuka seems to have developed Otton disease. So he has that going for him.
What a coaching staff. Losers at all three coordinator positions, but at least their boss is a more prolific loser.