Alex Anzalone “Just Got Overexcited”
September 17th, 2026
When it comes to the Bucs’ loss on Sunday, Joe wags a finger of shame at veterans playing like rookies.
Four names come to mind.
Perhaps you’ve heard of them: Baker Mayfield, Alex Anzalone, Vita Vea and Tristan Wirfs.
The Vea saga, as explained by Todd Bowles, still sticks in Joe’s craw.
Joe wrote all about Anzalone’s scary afternoon of poor tackling, shaky coverage, and a questionable effort or two. Todd Bowles offered some insight during his sitdown with WFLA-TV. It seems Anzalone didn’t operate like the seasoned pro the Bucs bought in free agency.
“[Anzalone] missed a couple of tackles, but he made some plays as well,” Bowles said. “Obviously, the missed tackles you don’t want in critical situations. And Alex understands that. He just got overexcited. And he needs to break down a little more instead of running in there out of control.”
Those four Bucs veterans — all captains — were healthy. So it seems their primary challenges were from the neck up, which is so frustrating.
If most of those guys were completely locked in on their fundamentals, the Bucs likely would be sitting pretty with a 1-0 record.
September 17th, 2026 at 10:23 am
No worries he gonna coach it better so they can play it better. He got this. It’s a Bucs life.
September 17th, 2026 at 10:23 am
I can easily forgive and forget if we can see evidence over the next couple of games that he just needed to pull his head out of his a**.
But my Fandom really needs to see it Sunday. My ILB grace period time frame has been worn very thin.
September 17th, 2026 at 10:24 am
In critical situations? How about “ever?”
Raise the standard, Todd.
Also, Anzalone look like he was on ice, and everyone else out there was not on ice.
September 17th, 2026 at 10:24 am
Let’s see how long Bowles sticks with Anzalone’s washed up a$$.
I think he needs to be benched immediately for either Roseboom or Dennis.
Sticking with Anzalone is going to cost us. Hopefully not games, but definitely alot of plays.
September 17th, 2026 at 10:26 am
“Over-excited”?
Are you sure he wasn’t just “bored”.
LOL!
Oh – this franchise is such a joke ATM…
September 17th, 2026 at 10:28 am
Nope, not 1-0 Joe. Just checked and it still reads 0-1. Coulda woulda shoulda doesn’t change the score.
I was willing to give Anzalone some slack for maybe having the wrong cleats, but there’ll be ZERO SLACK for a veteran getting Overexcited. Rookie overexcitement? Maybe a little slack. Veteran overexcitement? ZERO SLACK .
September 17th, 2026 at 10:29 am
Too bad we couldn’t play Wyoming Tech or something other cupcake like colleges like to do. Theory is that first game of season serves as a breaking in period.
Suppose that is what preseason was intended but injuries concern, which is justifiable, have all but put full stop to starters getting meaningful snaps.
Bring A game this week, AA, & all will be well.
September 17th, 2026 at 10:32 am
I’ll give Anzalone a pass since it was his first game with a totally different defense.
September 17th, 2026 at 10:32 am
He def needs better cleats!!
September 17th, 2026 at 10:34 am
Todd has an issue with poor word choice. Whether or not it was true, he should have never publicly stated that McCollum was bored in the secondary. It just creates a narrative unnecessarily. Same thing here. Overexcited is just a poor choice of words to convey what he meant. It makes it sound like he’s talking about a middle school student. The guy took bad angles and obviously had an issue with his cleats. Both are correctable. And the cleat thing, if it was that, should have been dealt with in game. Game. The angle thing… The guy is a veteran and needs to get his act together.
September 17th, 2026 at 10:35 am
Vintage Bowles protecting his players. Give him credit. There is no sense sinking the player further you erode his confidence. Anzalone knows the game was bad so does Bowles and the defense. Is there any truth to his statement. I doubt it the guy has been around awhile. We will see soon enough if time has caught up to him or he just had a bad game. Funny though had Trotter had the incredible game while Anazalone had the rookie game.
September 17th, 2026 at 10:36 am
Bored, overexcited, miscommunications, playing shape………Bucs are the champions of excuses.
September 17th, 2026 at 10:36 am
Hmmmm… is that the same thing as being bored ?
These coaches are All “cat word”
Including the HC and GM…
Not the football coaches I remember
Puzzie footing around not wanting to call out a player for fear of the players turning on the coaches.
September 17th, 2026 at 10:38 am
Yep, as positive as I try to be when responding to quotes and statements, I would never use the term over-excited for a veteran. I appreciate being a players coach, perhaps more than most, but having someone’s back and not just stating the obvious is lame. Call it what it is, Todd. Pros need to be pros and Alex let the team down during the game. Fix it and move forward.
September 17th, 2026 at 10:41 am
Pretty wacky behavior for a vet, but I’m happy to give him the benefit of the doubt for one game.
September 17th, 2026 at 10:42 am
There is nobody on this thread that want’s to hear excuses for the ILB position.
I’m sure he had nerves because he felt the pressure of replacing David and living up to the hype everyone gave him about fixing that group with Trotter.
Roseboom is a viable option if it continues.
He has 1 more game in my book, then he can ride the bench as a Captain.
September 17th, 2026 at 10:44 am
Maaaaaaan, Anzalone looked lost in the sauce for the entirety of this game and his body language showed the opposite of excitement. You’re a captain on this team, being juiced up is a weak way to explain what he put on tape.
Also, whiffed at least twice on some open field tackles that would’ve stopped the sticks from moving. Trotter didn’t have a perfect game, made some splashes, and missed some plays but he looked a lot better than the veteran leader in that room.
September 17th, 2026 at 10:49 am
He was in position and kept whiffing
September 17th, 2026 at 10:50 am
new offensive coordinator new players on defense training camp needed to be more old school like the way harbaugh and reid runs theirs
September 17th, 2026 at 10:54 am
7 wins and then its no more Bowles……lets see if he can screw this up this week against the Clowns……would not be surprised if he does…
“We gotta coach it better”……….”We had communication issues”………
Okay Todd, whatever you say
September 17th, 2026 at 10:56 am
Vita was rusty and lacked technique
Alex was overexcited and lacked fundamentals
Baker was jacked up and lacked ball security
cmon Coach Bowles…this team has more excuses than a convict
GO BUCS!!!!
September 17th, 2026 at 10:56 am
The only issue is and always has been Todd Bowles. Even during his superbowl run. His D was giving up 26 to 30 points. It was always a shootout for Brady. Only reason they gave this chump a head coaching gig cause he came cheap. So sad
September 17th, 2026 at 10:59 am
I’m fine with overexcited. I’m less fine with under-tackled.
September 17th, 2026 at 11:00 am
If AA was consistently that bad in practice he wouldn’t even have made the 53. I’m willing to call whatever this was a fluke
September 17th, 2026 at 11:04 am
lol is this what todd is down to? overexcited?
no wonder he wants to move on to the browns game, his BS barrel of excuses is running on empty.
September 17th, 2026 at 11:17 am
A lousy team like the Browns is,always the cure. We,will get the,shell of a man Dwat. The next week Shadeur will take his job.
September 17th, 2026 at 11:20 am
Adrenalin dumps are real.
Leave you drained and heavy footed.
This is a bad team. Alex isn’t a bad LBer
He dad a bad game
Still better than the horror shows by our Oline and Dline
September 17th, 2026 at 11:30 am
And Alex Anzalone was the only Bucs defender that got 100% of the snaps
It’s obviously Baker and Wirfs got 100% of the snaps
Even Vita Vea got the most snap counts among defensive linemen
Todd Bowles continues to stick with the underperformers
And this will be his downfall, most definitely
September 17th, 2026 at 11:32 am
AA34 had a bad game. He must play better going forward. Was it his responsibility to cover the TE on most of those catches?? Geezzz I hope not!
September 17th, 2026 at 11:47 am
Sad that their all the captains and supposed to be the example to follow. They better clean it up or its going to be a long damn season.
September 17th, 2026 at 11:53 am
Anzalone looks washed(hope I am wrong). If in fact Anzalone continues his under performing ways he has to be benched or cut. The disaster with Reddick last year was compounded by the utter intransigence of leaving him out there when he obviously stunk.
Leaving non performing players on the field week after week is how you go about losing the locker room.
September 17th, 2026 at 11:57 am
Losing to the Browns would be absolutely soul crushing.
I wonder if Bowles would get bounced for such an egregious failure.
0-2 would mean a 10-5 record is needed the rest of the way at minimum.
I just don’t see this team as constructed and as coached capable of that.
It would almost guarantee another 8-9 record if not worse.
September 17th, 2026 at 11:58 am
I have always thought the safeties covered the TE down field
I thought the ILB covered their area of a zone defense
This team always have problems with TEs
Mostly, because they try to cover him with a slow ILB
This defense confuses me, and I’m on the outside looking in
September 17th, 2026 at 12:03 pm
Bowles defensive scheme has a history of making bad QBs, look good.. don’t be surprised if Watson looks like Texans Watson.. when he was a good QB.
September 17th, 2026 at 12:19 pm
“Accountability” is a hoax. Nothing to see here.