“Maybe They Have Gotten Todd Bowles Sort Of Off The Plank For Now”
November 3rd, 2026
Joe knows of only one media member ever to be invited into the behind-the-scenes world of Buccaneers Ring of Honor general manager Jason Licht’s draft process.
No, it wasn’t Ira Kaufman.
That guy was Peter King, the legendary NFL scribe for Sports Illustrated and NBC Sports, who retired and then unretired. King can be a master bloviator at times, which makes Joe want to punch a table.
These days, King talks all things NFL on the Let’s Go! show on SiriusXM when he’s not pimping his new book, a 576-page read about the NFL.
(Did you really think it would be under 500 pages?)
Yesterday, King called the Bucs-Falcons game one of the weirdest experiences of his NFL-watching life.
“Yeah, I’m trying to figure out what it all means,” King said of the Bucs’ shutout win. “You know, what does it mean that the Bucs now have won three out of four, and maybe they have gotten Todd Bowles sort of off the plank for now? It’s hard to know exactly.”
“But you know, the one thing about the Bucs that I think is interesting, that is a team that because it’s still got some really good defensive players led by Vito Vea, in my opinion — I mean they’ve only allowed 13 points the last two weeks. Obviously, part of that is being in a monsoon. But I do think that in a bad division, I think Tampa is still very, very much in it. … “Some team that’s eight and nine definitely could win that division. And the Bucs now have kind of semi-gotten back into it at 3-5. So we’ll see.”
King is right in saying it is hard to know if Bowles is “sort of off the plank.”
The recent wins have proven to Joe that the Bucs are woefully underachieving this season. The talent is far better than the record. And the Bucs also underachieved last season.
Who brings a head coach back after his vetreran team underachieves in two consecutive seasons?
Bowles has two more months to prove he doesn’t belong in that category.
November 3rd, 2026 at 8:56 am
Agreed
November 3rd, 2026 at 8:58 am
All 5 losses by less than 1 score. We could easily be 6-2 or 5-3.
November 3rd, 2026 at 9:03 am
yea which shows how incompetent and unprepared the coaching staff was this season.
November 3rd, 2026 at 9:10 am
the Bucs are gonna finish 9-8 and Todd will be safe – ugh – thank Lamar Jackson – Jim Harbaugh – Penix – Young – Shough – Jerry Jones – It’s A Bucs Life
November 3rd, 2026 at 9:16 am
Most high income jobs don’t pay for constant success. It pays for potential and consistent results.
As Ira stated, three losing seasons in five years should not be good enough.
We have three guaranteed losses remaining on the schedule. Bears, Lions, and Rams. And I don’t see us going 6-0 in the division.
The final record will be 8-9 or 7-10 at best. Playoffs or no, Todd should get fired for that result.
November 3rd, 2026 at 9:18 am
It’s nothing personal against Bowles – we just want a winner. If we go on a run, make the playoffs, and win a playoff game, then I’m fine with keeping things as they are for another year. I personally don’t care who the coach is as long as we are competitive, fighting hard, winning most of our games, and being part of the playoff race. If not, change is needed.
This isn’t rocket surgery.
November 3rd, 2026 at 9:21 am
3-7 is all but a certainty
Todd is good enough to keep the Bucs competitive against the saddest division in the league but when the serious franchises come to play he’s toast
November 3rd, 2026 at 9:33 am
Each one of the games we lost was because the offense couldn’t put up any points after defense played ball
November 3rd, 2026 at 9:37 am
Off the plank is a perfect way to put it. Another would be the temperature on his hot seat has been lowered a bit.
There are two separate stories that can play out:
1) Saying the Bucs underachieved the 2nd half of last year is fact. It carried over into this year and it is why they won’t win more than 7 games.
2) The Bucs underachieved last year, but this year’s team is completely different and the multiple changes took a longer adjustment period than anticipated. Also not finding a way to squeeze out just one win in the first four made it even worse. However, they are now executing well and will finish with 9-10 wins and the division.
When taking all emotion out of the equation, it will be fascinating to see how the story ends.
November 3rd, 2026 at 9:39 am
I’m trying to figure out what Peter King means. He’s incomprehensible and arrogant. As Joe said, a master bloviator!
November 3rd, 2026 at 9:52 am
The Bears will be the real test. They have won 3 of 4, but the bears are the real deal. I find it hard to believe they’ll run for 200+ yards on them. Mayfield is going to have to step up along with the receivers.
That said, I’m more curious as to how the defense will play. The bear’s offense is rolling and very balanced. Bowls as DC has been impressive. But this one will be a test.
I know you can argue the Falcons was the second highest scoring team in the NFL and was very balanced over the last several weeks, but in that mud game, it made both teams one dimensional.
November 3rd, 2026 at 9:55 am
Bears. They mauled Seattle and will have their claws out at Soldier Field.
November 3rd, 2026 at 10:05 am
The uncertainty about his hot seat should end permanently if this season doesn’t end in a deep deep playoff run. Anybody could have a good defense with the players we have on this roster. We don’t need to keep a mediocre head coach who is only good at doing defensive coordinator work. They players haven’t given up on him duh they aren’t supposed to they have families to feed
November 3rd, 2026 at 10:13 am
If it was just a random 1:00 kickoff I would say they might overlook us, but being on national TV takes that out.
My unemotional opinion is if the Bucs lose then everything gained was a mirage. It’s a very tough road game against an excellent opponent. Loses happen.
But if we do lose, what does it look like? Also, we need to string together 3-1 quarters. We just did that. Losing this Sunday doesn’t mean we can’t go 3-1 in the 3rd quarter of the season. The Lions are good, but they’re not THAT good.
November 3rd, 2026 at 10:16 am
Clawing to get to his .500 comfort zone.
November 3rd, 2026 at 10:23 am
Bowles need 6 wins to “save jobs” including his own – BAL LAC are in shambles – so the Bucs have to sweep the division CAR ATL NOx2 – they can do that – DET CHI are irrelevant – the MNF home game against CAR will determine the post-season – I think Bowles won’t get fired under any circumstances due to Glazer diffidence
November 3rd, 2026 at 10:26 am
They need to give Bowles the old Tony Dungy punt.
Dungy was good, not good enough.
November 3rd, 2026 at 10:30 am
I see two points where Bowles could be let go, the bye and end of season. The recent wins likely saved him from a bye firing, so he’ll survive until after the season, but he’ll be retired.
November 3rd, 2026 at 10:37 am
Now we will see non-landfill teams in the next 2 games.
This is when we roll up our sleeves and go to work Baker. We don’t need a hero.
It is evident we have a decent run game and Defense.
I still believe the OC might be a question mark. Baker and the receiving crew must hold on to the ball. If we don’t have turnovers, we should be in the game at the 4th qtr.
LFG!!!
November 3rd, 2026 at 10:44 am
This post from ‘this joe’ is objective and straight to the point. I read a couple of comments above mention ’emotional’. I can only speak for myself when I state that there’s no emotion involved in my opinions. Those opinions are based purely on facts. None of us are giving Jason Licht a complete pass for the lack of blue-chip players or not giving Todd credit for calling a good defense for most of the season.
It’s Todd’s record. Pure and simple. The team may not have elite talent, but it darn sure has enough talent to win more games than it loses. Seeing the Jeckel and Hyde performances from this team for almost half a decade now, is objectively a reason to move on. I could care less if he gets to 7 or 8 wins and gets his holy grail, the nfc south participation division trophy again.
November 3rd, 2026 at 10:45 am
Pound sand, Peter King. Please revert back to you’re usual Bucs-hater mode. Why? Because you’re always wrong.
I think I think King bubbles over with mush mouth nonsense – talking a lot but saying nothing.
November 3rd, 2026 at 11:14 am
Atlanta beat the niners
November 3rd, 2026 at 11:35 am
I don’t understand the entitlement that some of the fanbase has cultivated because winning consistently is actually an outlier for this organization historically. Todd Bowles regular season record may look pedestrian at 38-38 (0.500), but even with the two Super Bowl seasons, the historic record of the Bucs without Todd Bowles at the helm is 291–433–1 (0.402 or 141.5 games below 500). I suspect a large portion of the fanbase that doesn’t know their history, weren’t fans when this team was actually very uncompetitive (mostly through the McKay, Bennett, Perkins, Williamson, Wyche eras followed by Morris, Schiano, Smith, Koetter tenures. That’s a lot of bad football that many of you forgot were a large part of this organization’s history. Winning like we did during the Brady mercenary years maybe what the modern NFL looks like when offense gets all the glory, but this team historically is rooted in producing great defenses (one that defined an era).
Winning ugly 16-0 last week or going tit-for-tat in a shootout 38-35 shootout against the eventual Super Bowl champions a season before, it doesn’t really matter how we get there, its just that we are going in the right direction. Ben Johnson, Liam Coen, Sean McVay and their generation may be winning games the more flashy way, but if the Bucs D cultivates the same attitude that Warren Sapp instilled decades before, where the O gives them enough points (at least 17 points), the Defense can do the rest. They didn’t need the best QB, just one to do enough to compliment the running game to get over the hump. Maybe this edition is not as good as either the 1999 or 2002 Bucs D, but they are playing inspired football of late and if they can keep that up, the Bears and Lions won’t know what hit them.
November 3rd, 2026 at 11:40 am
Playoff win!! Anything worse and I will be hollering for a new coaching staff all offseason!
November 3rd, 2026 at 11:41 am
Glazers go get Sean McVay to coach this team next year I think his contract is up with the Rams
November 3rd, 2026 at 11:44 am
Say Joe, Wait a minute. Bowles is still on the plank. He’s just not near the edge as he used to be. They have let him walk backwards to get a drink of water. Thats all. I watched them Bears last night. And they are mauling the hell out of anything in front of them. Beat The Bears Todd. And maybe we will untie one of the hands.
November 3rd, 2026 at 11:58 am
So a Super Bowl winning Coach loses 4 games and Gets Fired
This guy has done nothing except when the soft division and ONE playoff game
BUT wins against two these two losing teams
And all of a sudden
YEP BOWLES IS GREAT
Answer Why??? Gurden Fired Bowles Praised