“That’s A Coaching Thing”
June 24th, 2026
Two Steelers greats took serious shots at Buccaneers head coach Todd Bowles.
Remember when Joe shared how Bowles referenced last week that Bucs players took plays off when the team had a lead?
Yeah, Joe is still dry heaving. And it seems legendary Pittsburgh linebacker James Harrison and one-time Steelers Pro Bowl cornerback Joe Haden are feeling similarly.
They addressed Bowles’ comments on their Deebo and Joe podcast.
Haden and Harrison pointed fingers at the Tampa Bay head coach.
“That’s a coaching thing,” Haden barked. “You can’t let that be accepted. That starts in practice. That starts in pursuit drills. [Players] didn’t start that in the game; that was happening in practice. You were letting that thing slide.”
Harrison agreed. He added that loafing in the NFL largely is about fatigue — followed by ego preventing players from asking for a sub when they can’t go full speed.
Haden chastised tired players that take a play off to just stay on the field. “Sub out,” he said. “Get off the damn field. Fatigue makes a coward out of everybody.”
Change of speed during a practice play or in a game is the ultimate tell, Haden said. Harrison agreed and again pointed at coaching.
“You are the head coach. You dictate and you make that acceptable or unacceptable by how you practice,” Harrison said.
Both talked about how full buy-in to a head coach is only achieved when every player is called out equally in front all teammates.
Joe will add that was a trademark of Bucco Bruce Arians and, apparently, one of Arians’ comrades. Harrison said Steelers Hall of Fame coach Bill Cowher would call out anybody.
So where was coaching to blame with the 2025 Bucs?
Well, Joe would say Bowles blamed a ton on his coaching staff given all the offseason firings, hirings and resignations.
June 24th, 2026 at 1:13 pm
They fired the wrong guy. It starts from the top down. I can’t even believe that Bowles admitted That didn’t realize it was his own damn fault. We have some great players, but I doubt we win a Super Bowl till Bowles is gone. It said I’m gonna coach is afraid to Callout loafing players its just sad.
June 24th, 2026 at 1:17 pm
He benched some people late in the season pretending they were injured. Those people are gone now so that tells me all I need to know about them. And obviously it was not tolerated as they are no longer on the team. I think Reddick was a locker room cancer right from the start, for instance.
June 24th, 2026 at 1:19 pm
That is why all the players love him! If you f’ed around at work all day and got paid and were never held accountable u would love ur boss also.
June 24th, 2026 at 1:30 pm
Bowlez rarely holds players accountable. Among many reasons why he should’ve been fired.
June 24th, 2026 at 1:34 pm
Someone might be collecting a paycheck until it runs out. SMH
No accountability.
Then fire coaches and hire your son.
Laughing all the way to the bank!!!
Bowles is doing a Michael Clayton on the Glazers and all Bucs fans.
Yeah I miss Bruce Arians.
Rinse and Repeat
June 24th, 2026 at 1:45 pm
Accountability conversations aren’t with the media, they’re with the players.
Maybe ask them about any accountability. Do Iit on background and maybe they’ll even talk about it with you.
June 24th, 2026 at 2:07 pm
When Bowles orders his quadruple bacon cheeseburger from Whataburger, he prefers it with Swiss cheese.
Then washes it down with a Large chocolate milk shake and five KitKat bars.
Also, he sucks at being a HC and DC. Just look at his record.
He allows laziness and boredom to set in as a normal thing.
Culture of Failure.
June 24th, 2026 at 2:17 pm
When Bowles and the team wins the NFC south again yall keep this same energy! #gobucs
June 24th, 2026 at 2:19 pm
You get either what you create or what you accept. Bowles accepted loafing. That said, the Glazers accepted mediocrity, so no one should be surprised. Given that they allowed Bowles to fire his staff instead of being accountable tells me everything I need to know. Praying the Glazers get tired of being the tallest midget in the circus and make a difficult decision.
June 24th, 2026 at 2:19 pm
Man Bowles cant do any good in yalls eyes. Yall keep the same energy when we win the nfc south again this year
June 24th, 2026 at 2:24 pm
Bowles is firmly on the hot seat. He’ll be high on that list all season, probably post season too. This is it for him. Get it done, or get gone.
June 24th, 2026 at 2:26 pm
Speaking of Bruce – great interview with him on another site but the Todd trashers and Baker bickerers probably don’t want to hear it cause he loves Todd and Bake and is optimistic about the Bucs season
When Todd wakes up in the morning he knows one thing – lynchmob will be thinking about him already. 😭
June 24th, 2026 at 2:30 pm
Bowles put his hands up in the air and said he had no answers for fixing the special teams mid season last year. Thats a fire-able offense by itself. The headcoach is supposed to have the answers. Bowles would rather not rock the boat than take any extreme measures like total accountability. Thats great for comradery but not great for exceptionalism.
June 24th, 2026 at 2:33 pm
“That was happening in practice” What I’ve been saying. I watch this team play and I wonder what they do at practice. Or if they practice.
June 24th, 2026 at 2:39 pm
We will Fred, cause that’s Bowles ceiling as a coach. Give him the NFC pro bowl team and he will lose in the divisional round.
June 24th, 2026 at 2:40 pm
Hey Todd, 2026 is your opportunity to prove us all wrong. I’d love for that to happen but I don’t think it will.
June 24th, 2026 at 2:49 pm
Simple T wakes up thinking about LynchMob50.
Then has his way with his AI integrated Todd Bowles doll.
It’s programmed to say the same thing on repeat after the climactic finish.
“Just gotta git betta”
June 24th, 2026 at 2:50 pm
He appears to be doing some loafing himself. He should self terminate from the job as HC, then he can loaf and eat Kit Kats all he wants. Seriously though, you’re the boss, act like one please! Hold yourself and everyone else to a higher standard like Tom Brady did. The results speak for themselves.
June 24th, 2026 at 2:53 pm
Imagine keeping an employee when they say “I have no answers”
Todd has Failed forward due to his relationship with Arians. Todd being gifted the job and hanging onto it when he coordinates the weakest unit on the team is laughable.
The Bucs should be going into Year 2 of the Liam Coen regime and not Year 5 of the Todd Blows regime
wish we had a forward thinking GM and Front Office
June 24th, 2026 at 3:08 pm
Todd took the whole week off at the Bye and mostly all walk through practices after that. Even the players were complaining about the lack of practice. What could go wrong? Obviously, BA isn’t keeping the accountability board up anymore. Todd certainly doesn’t use it on his players or himself. Last chance coming up.
June 24th, 2026 at 3:17 pm
“Bill Cowher would call out anybody.” Hell, Bill Cower went after a ref in ’95 by shoving a picture of an incorrect call in the dudes pocket. Probably spit all over him too while he was yelling!
June 24th, 2026 at 3:23 pm
Lol is completely right.
Bowles must have been embarrassed after the Rams fired their ST coach.
I wish we had an all pro that all you guys thought should win the SB this year and when they inevitably fell on their face you would finally understand the detriment the Bucs have at HC/DC.
June 24th, 2026 at 3:24 pm
*all pro team*
June 24th, 2026 at 3:27 pm
Yall are so funny in these comments. Haden and Harrison are saying the loud part out loud. Bowles is bad at his job and those walk through practices don’t translate to good football on Sunday’s.
Can he increase the intensity without the NFL taking a practice away? With the NFL rules and Bowles incompetence its difficult for me to see how they can improve. We’ll see…
June 24th, 2026 at 3:28 pm
That’s what cupcake training camps and walk through season practices get you.
Yeah players love Bowles. Slackest coach ever.
Bring on Mike T.
June 24th, 2026 at 3:30 pm
To be fair, before you say Lavonte should have subbed out, remember who we had to sub in.
June 24th, 2026 at 3:43 pm
And yet our front office was absolutely blind to it and never once held him accountable — the organization is entirely to blame for the laziness and loafing.
Remind me again why they’ve been putting up with this guy the last 2-3 years?
June 24th, 2026 at 3:48 pm
Nobody thinks about you (lynchmob) until we try to read an article on JBF and see your whiny assed comments multiple times in every single article every single day.
I guess that’s why you carry on with your whine – a – thon….. It’s the only way anybody pays any attention to you.
We should all feel sorry for you but it ain’t easy when someone is trying to be an a$$hole and annoy the actual Bucs fans here.
June 24th, 2026 at 3:49 pm
Our defense didn’t have a lot of talent left with a hobbled Lavonte and Kancey out all year. Not much to work with. Then our offense got shredded with injuries. Just a disaster of a year there wasn’t much of a way to recover from. We have lots of great players returning from injury as well as the great draft picks and free agent pickups. This team will shock a lot of people and I’ll drop the double bird to the Bowles haters if we take home the Lombardi again. Or even if we make a lot of noise in the playoffs- which we at least should if we can avoid the injury bug largely this year.
June 24th, 2026 at 3:51 pm
For the last time, the Bucs couldn’t fire DEE E eye Todd and replace him with a whyte coach.
Just look at the on Brian Flores “situation.”
They had to at least give him one more year or the BSPN raycysts would still be screaming about it.
Trust me, a team that has male cheerleaders is very in tune with their”sensitive” side.
June 24th, 2026 at 3:52 pm
Does he even know how to play chess? Can one of the Joe’s ask him? The coach is supposed to be the chess master. Looks like our coach doesn’t even know how to play checkers. It will show up in clock management too. It’s a Bucs life.
June 24th, 2026 at 4:19 pm
No one holds Bowles accountable so he has no reason to hold players accountable. Life is easier that way.
June 24th, 2026 at 4:29 pm
I thought the male cheerleaders were only on this board after Mayfield got here then I saw them in a game and was like “ARE YOU KIDDING ME???”. Seriously what st8 woman wants to see a gaiman shaking his pom poms in his shorts doing handstands and high kicks??? I’m not an intolerable guy but that I have a very hard time tolerating. What red blooded football fan wants to see that??? Watching Bowles coaching on the sideline is now about as intolerable!
June 24th, 2026 at 4:32 pm
Simple T ,its weird when you think what a Lynch mob should be, you know tough as nails and won’t take crap off no one ,him and 328 are boo foo buddies its like the mommies in wallmart with the toddler in the cart crying cause he didn’t get a kit kat bar embarrassing themselves actually you just wanna slap him upside the head! Go Bucs!
June 24th, 2026 at 4:43 pm
I don’t what sensors the NFL allows on the field. And, if there are no current restrictions, I would probably not be asking permission. And, I don’t think that there are any restrictions on the sidelines or in practice.
The team Sports Medicine group should be monitoring every player for at least heart rate and temperature with baselines from practice to establish thresholds for performance decreases and recovery times.
If your best CB is overheated, dehydrated and gassed, he isn’t your best until he rotates off the field and recovers. Same for every other position on the field.
One factor in the sub starter performance of both ILBs last year is that they just didn’t come off of the field on drives, presumably because of a lack of faith in their backups.
I can’t prove it. But, I suspect that David would have rated as a quality starter last year if the Bucs had drafted Campbell or Sxchwesinger for him to share snaps with.
That would have meant missing out on Egbuka. But, with that improvement on the defense, the Bucs should have gained enough overall to at least win one more game and retained the division title.
Of course, that would have meant missing Bain this year, and maybe still having Evans.
The backassward tanking may work out for the best although the Bucs likely need to draft Day 1 or 2 for another DT, ILB, OLB, and OG unless they can get lucky in free agency.
June 24th, 2026 at 4:45 pm
and he let them have another day off besides the lost day, it is not working out with this asshole, Glazers need to start the coach search early.
June 24th, 2026 at 5:33 pm
They hit the nail on the head. But are the Giazers paying attention? (Rhetorical question).
June 24th, 2026 at 5:36 pm
Joe answer this please, Do you actually think there’s sa chance the Bucs will 1) nFire Bowles 2) Hire Coach Tomlin or 3) hire anybody
June 24th, 2026 at 5:47 pm
It seems there is person not mentioned that never called Bowles out for lack of accountability. This season may be the last for both TB and JL.
June 24th, 2026 at 5:54 pm
This has been my opinion all along. If the players are loafing during games, that is on the coaching staff, and particularly the head coach. That is why I was so flabbergasted when Bowles was not fired. What more did the Glazers need as evidence Bowles had lost the team. I guess if the head coach can’t motivate the players, sign players who are self-motivated, which appears to be the strategy Licht employed to make up for Bowles’ inability to light a fire.
June 24th, 2026 at 7:05 pm
It’s certainly not all on Todd. The players are getting paid big small fortunes to be professional.
However – the dollar stops with him. You pay the brad coach to get the most out of your coaches and players.
Gruden was already established as a HC and Arians (if you believe the RTF doc) was largely responsible for Arians coming. You have to wonder if the glazers have any contacts in the league that can help them understand how poorly they have been with these coaches outside of a few in twenty something years
June 24th, 2026 at 7:07 pm
That is why Lombardi, Shula, Noll, Landry all those guys would win today. What Harrison said is spot on, “fatigue makes cowards out of everybody”. I don’t understand why guys don’t come out more when they’re gassed. And people wondered why Evans tapped to come out at times, maybe he was right all along.
June 24th, 2026 at 7:09 pm
Haden said it but both were right in what they said.
June 24th, 2026 at 7:47 pm
Douche
That’s a ridiculous take. The Bucs have hired as many or more black coaches as any team.
Your whyte fragility is glaring. Bowles needs to go, but it has nothing to do with the color of his skin.
Clown.
June 24th, 2026 at 7:58 pm
Coaches got to coach better, players got to play better. Then says “We will get to were we are supposed to be, when the players start coaching themselves”. Break me off a piece of that Kit Kat.
June 24th, 2026 at 8:10 pm
Bowles doesn’t seem to understand that his job responsibility is to be a good coach and not a best friend. His idea of tough love is to place Zyon on IR instead of placing him on the sidelines in street clothes.
June 24th, 2026 at 8:18 pm
If you believe Toad can take you to the promised land, you are delusional and probably believe in the Tooth Fairy, Easter Bunny, Great Pumpkin and Santa Claus.
June 24th, 2026 at 8:28 pm
Bowles took a 4-11 jets team to 10-6 in 4 years with 4 different qb’s just missing the playoffs in 2018 Hes my Tampa Bay Buccaneers Head Coach! Rock on! The Todd!
June 24th, 2026 at 10:08 pm
Todd has clogged the Buccaneers Bowl. Shi##y days ahead until they flush this turd.
Why wait? Wasted season ahead.
June 24th, 2026 at 11:18 pm
I’ve said it all along, that loafing and giving up is on the coach. Also, allowing Mayfield to play injured is on the coach.
June 25th, 2026 at 2:51 am
The loafing wasn’t even a one year thing. Remember Devin White? Remember him loafing? It’s been going on for several years under Todd Bowles.
Bowles said recently that Trotter is good in coverage. Which probably means he’ll have him out there getting burned like we saw with White, KJ Britt, and Dennis, all of who Bowles thought could cover and were awful. So yeah, not only is loafing acceptable under Bowles, it seems he still has no clue how to use his players.
June 25th, 2026 at 6:58 am
The fans will be circling the Bowle’s wagon train all season and accept nothing less than a SB appearance.
June 25th, 2026 at 11:44 am
Thank you my Joe. Time to wipe our feet on the Floormatt.
And the clown is still the Bucs Twocoach.
June 25th, 2026 at 12:33 pm
Granted I did not play WR or DB or Safety. Those dudes run flat out pretty much every play. So I get it that they can run out of gas. But loafing is still loafing. Also if you are not in top shape to do the running required then you are hurting your team. That should not be a fitness issue.
We had dudes who were gassed in the middle of the second quarter last year. Fitness issue. New Strength and conditioning coach is apparently working our dudes hard.
Our practices back in the day made games feel like a breeze. Some dudes did loaf…but not for long…All that got straightened out long before the first game. As in coaches spotted it and called them out. Often had the whole team run because someone loafed.
Go Bucs!
June 25th, 2026 at 4:28 pm
it was probably a problem and then the ownership thought extending bowles would be enough to stem the tide. it wasnt and last season happened.
the lazy inmates are running the asylum. bowles will “retire” after this year citing “health reasons”.
its insane the things bowles says yet the apologistas keep moving the narrative forwards, usually with glazer$$ in their pocket for their service.
June 25th, 2026 at 7:31 pm
Since our high school days we all know that when you loaf at practice you lose games.
Harrison and Haden are spot one. Management’s acceptance of a head coach that allows that brings all manner of consequences; the main one being losing.
When Dungy coached, the players related that he was quiet but he coached hard and set high performance expectations. And if you didn’t do your job to his standard, you were called out and, “encouraged,” in various ways to get better or sit and eventually lose your job and living as a pro football player.
June 25th, 2026 at 11:06 pm
Todd acts like hes no the head coach amd things happening he cant control. I domt know if its a weird psychological defense mechanism. That is NOT a leader that’s a defensive coordinator talk8ng. We are wasting a very talented roster. We are men. Im telling you this team lost respect foe Bowles. Maybe he tried to get at Mike Evans wife. I know that’s crazy but the did something. This team does.not have his respect amd they win ( sometimes) im spite of him
June 27th, 2026 at 9:11 pm
Todd doesn’t need to win the SB to appease the fans.
How about showing progress? Not losing 3-4 games in a row mid season. How about getting the club to 12-5 and a conference title game?
If that happens we’d all be doing backflips for ‘27 with him in charge.
Spoiler alert: he’ll manage a team that will win in-between 7-9 games this fall.