“We Kind Of Slid Off A Little Bit Last Week”
October 27th, 2026
Embattled Bucs head coach Todd Bowles.
There is no home field advantage for Tampa Bay at The Licht House. Tampa Bay is 4-8 there in its last 12 home games and winless this season.
Why?
Collectively, the Bucs have mental issues. Their inconsistency is glaring.
If Joe were Todd Bowles, Joe would bus the team to the stadium for a practice and some activities. Maybe even make players walk around and fix divots, wipe down benches and more. Make players and coaches realize that their house has to matter. Maybe even invite their kids to come and run around the field one night. That place has to become a home to protect.
On the flip side, the Bucs have been road warriors. The Bucs should have beaten the Bengals in Cincinnati to start the season. That would have happened if not for Baker Mayfield coughing up three fumbles. The Bucs then beat the Cowboys and Panthers on the road. So they’re 2-1 away from home this season, and both wins were impressive performances.
In Sunday’s blowout, part-time Bucs edge rusher David Walker played 54 percent of the defensive snaps in the beatdown of the Panthers on Sunday. (Hallelujah!)
The Bucs sacks leader told the Bucs Players’ Table that the team is doing its best work away from Tampa. He also noted the team fell off the the winning path at hom against Pittsburgh two Sundays ago.
“Like when we went to Dallas, I feel like on the road, man, we’ve been playing our best ball,” Walker said. “It’s been exciting to see Coach Bowles, he’s always ‘keep the standard.’ I feel like the standard is what we did today. We kind of slid off a little bit last week, but man, we got some good leaders in our room. Like [A’Shawn Robinson] he’s on our head every day about the little stuff. About like when we do red zone Friday at practice, ‘Don’t let him in the end zone!’ Like those little things carry over. And it was big task for us on special teams and stuff like that to finish to get a turnover. Those big plays, I feel like it pushed our offense, our defense to something we ain’t seen since a couple weeks ago.”
(Joe listens to the show on SiriusXM.)
This is the Bucs’ biggest challenge. Stepping out from under inconsistent leadership and performance and finding two consecutive wins. That hasn’t happened in more than a year.
The infamous Todd Bowles “killer instinct” craving doesn’t just apply to the fourth quarter of games.
October 27th, 2026 at 10:13 am
If we can run on ATL, we’ll be looking solid for a possible division win. Leaning on our pass blocking and Baker’s ability to throw accurately is a major concern.
Our defense is looking really good and Walker appears to be the real deal.
Let’s ground and pound the dirty birds into the dirt!
October 27th, 2026 at 10:23 am
The Dixie Chicks have the 4th best rushing defense in the league at 88 yards allowed per game. Sure would like to see Robinson work in a couple of Jap plays on 1st down with Bucky pitching it back to Baker or let Bucky take a pitch and heave it as he did at Oregon. Something to keep Chicks off balance.
October 27th, 2026 at 10:34 am
Todd for OC. Yeah, hopefully we do none of that stupidity.
October 27th, 2026 at 10:42 am
The Falcons have beat us at the Licht house the last 3 years. How amazing!
October 27th, 2026 at 10:46 am
Would like to see ko kief in the backfield as a fullback with Durham next to the tackles….also would like to use more 2 back sets in the backfield…
stay committed to the run game and we should be tough to beat
GO BUCS!!!!
October 27th, 2026 at 11:07 am
People seem to forget that outside those 2 good running games, the rest were pretty meh, and couldn’t even average 4 YPC. People who say “if we can just run the ball like this every week… blah blah blah.” Uh, duuuhhh, no sh!t Sherlock… but we can’t. Nobody can. You gotta throw the effin’ rock too. And we have utterly failed to have a passing game this year. So, not to be a turd in the punchbowl, but what we did against Carolina is not only unsustainable, it’s unlikely to be replicated this season.
October 27th, 2026 at 11:22 am
2-5
2 -wins no turnovers
5 losses a herd of turnovers
Self inflicted and with that being said they’ve been in every game
October 27th, 2026 at 11:23 am
Running the ball would be nice, but I think this game our franchise high paid QB is going to have to finally earn his money. This is the game where Baker needs to really step up and be accurate and decisive with his throws. The Falcons watched the tape and will do everything to stop the run and make Baker beat them.
It’s time Baker.
October 27th, 2026 at 11:25 am
Coming off a win over the division leading Panthers in Charlotte was a statement win. Now the Bucs face the NFL South leader, Atlanta Falcons in Tampa. Can the Bucs make another statement win? Atlanta has a good defense, whereas the Carolina Panthers was somewhat suspect.
Sustaining another win in Tampa is important towards reclaiming the NFL South division. One advantage Robinson has is, he was the OC in Atlanta last year. He knows their strengths and weaknesses. This knowledge doesn’t guarantee a win for the Bucs, but it could be crucial in the Bucs walking away the Victor.
October 27th, 2026 at 11:25 am
A couple of weeks back I went and listen to Tony Dungy speak. The bringing families onto the field was a big thing to him. He did it for a couple of reasons, said even him and Peyton Manning had disagreements about it and Peyton had to step back from this disagreement because Tony was adamant about doing it.
It might help in this case Joe, because it is a US against THEM Family thing, surround the wagons. It’s about 50/50 fan base at home games, which is a shame.
October 27th, 2026 at 11:38 am
Bowles handpicked Robinson so he wouldn’t have to worry about the OC replacing him.
October 27th, 2026 at 11:58 am
Doesnt Baker have these Falcons games circled because of Stefanski! Time for our Mega paid QB to earn his keep!
October 27th, 2026 at 12:00 pm
huh what? kind of slid a little last week against the steelers?
OHHHH my bad he is using that quarter forgetting thing where they get to forget they lost the first four games of the season and joe is playing along.
never mind, brainwashing and gaslichting can resume.
October 27th, 2026 at 12:10 pm
I think they’re playing to the script Bowles wants. He wanted them to experience a close game against the Steelers and they had a chance to win at the end. In the. go that’s a win.
October 27th, 2026 at 12:20 pm
The Bucs D is like a concert pianist. When all the fingers are playing together it is beautiful music. But when one of off it is noticeable to all. Bowles D is GREAT but COMPLEX. One person not on the same page and it falls apart like a house of cards. But when all the players are on the same page. It is a thing of beauty. The question is how realistic is that?
October 27th, 2026 at 12:26 pm
“Collectively, the Bucs have mental issues.”
I hope they read this and get VERY mad at you, Joe!
Mad and crazy are good traits when your back is up against the wall.
October 27th, 2026 at 12:34 pm
Most everyone in modern society has mental issues. Bowles cares about the locker room and taking care of the players is more important than whatever the scoreboard or standings say. It’s the other things that matter.
October 27th, 2026 at 12:41 pm
NCbucfan Says:
October 27th, 2026 at 11:58 am
Doesnt Baker have these Falcons games circled because of Stefanski! Time for our Mega paid QB to earn his keep!
He also circled the Browns game…how did that turn out?
October 27th, 2026 at 12:55 pm
Omg…Quentin Nelson went for a 27 3rd and 28 5th…
Colts would have sent him to us over Seattle.
Put him at LG, good gravy!!!
Oh well….
October 27th, 2026 at 12:55 pm
Last I heard the turf at Raymond James is cr@p. Maybe we need better grass?
October 27th, 2026 at 12:57 pm
No McBay…wins matter a lot!
October 27th, 2026 at 1:00 pm
Mcbay..You got any of that good sh!+ to sell..
October 27th, 2026 at 1:06 pm
Matt LaFluer makes the players stay at the team hotel the night before home games. McCartney did also, but vets had an exception. Maybe we try this since we oh, no suck again at home…but win on the road.
October 27th, 2026 at 1:09 pm
Well providing Luke’s calf doesn’t feel better we run the ball , impose our will on them and then ZR calls the play action pass ,,, oh my , it was there all day against Panthers and Cowboys ,,, when you run the ball life is easier ,,, and truth is we were averaging 5 ypc in some of our losses and Zach gave up on it ,, Commit to the run and ye shall be rewarded!!!!
October 27th, 2026 at 1:12 pm
And game manager or what ,, Brad Johnson’s SB is just as important as TB12s SB
October 27th, 2026 at 1:20 pm
I hope we can get an early lead and set the tone. We are done with the opposing fans taking over the stadium. We will still see them of course, but not like the Steelers and Packers. So if we can get an early lead and get the fans involved, we might have some semblance of the home crowd advantage. Fingers crossed.
October 27th, 2026 at 1:30 pm
We need to take deep shots more with Ted and Tez make the safety drop back and let our Te eat, play action needs to work
October 27th, 2026 at 1:39 pm
It’s funny how many fans don’t know what is really important. Bowles knows what is important and that’s why real fans know he is a great coach and should wear even more than two hats.
October 27th, 2026 at 2:00 pm
@McBay, your nonsense is old. You’re either a troll or deeply deeply delusional.