Buccaneers Game Decision “Shocking” To Chris Simms
November 17th, 2025
The porous Bills defense seemed to spook Todd Bowles yesterday.
What other reason could there be for the Bucs to pass on a fourth-quarter 4th-and-2 try at their own 39 yard line with about 7:30 remaining and the Bills leading 37-32? Buffalo had scored 16 points on its prior three drives, needing only 14 plays to put those three scores on the board.
In the moment, the Bucs defense was overmatched and ineffective. Still, Bowles opted to punt the ball to the sizzling hot Bills offense.
The punt was damn good. The problem was the Bills churned out an 85-yard drive in 8 plays. Ballgame.
Joe always is in favor of putting the game in the hands of your best players. On 3rd-and-2, the Bucs opted for a pass to Sterling Shepard rather than decide they were in two-play territory and run behind Tristan Wirfs, for example.
Former Bucs quarterback Chris Simms was appalled by the Bowles decision to punt — on the road — and hand the ball to Josh Allen, rather than let Baker Mayfield operate on 4th-and-2 in the fourth quarterback. Some might call that Bakertown.
Simms acknowledged he’s a “kick the ball” guy most of the time. But Simms emphasized that’s when a game is a defensive struggle or you’re handing the ball back to a shaky quarterback.
Neither was true yesterday.
“This was since the second quarter, nobody stops anybody,” Simms said. “Everybody’s going up and down the field. So you thought here with Josh Allen just going up and down the field that you punt to him and all of a sudden the defense took the magic pill this one series and was like, ‘Now we can stop them!’
“No, you can’t. That was shocking to me in the moment. Shocking.”
Joe has to recognize Bowles has punted in similar situations this year and when it’s been controversial and ultimately correct. However, Sunday was not that day against a quarterback having a record-breaking game.
November 17th, 2025 at 2:24 pm
Josh Allen wasn’t the MVP last season ’cause he’s fried liver.
November 17th, 2025 at 2:24 pm
Because Bowles is an idiot.
That’s been well established at this point.
November 17th, 2025 at 2:25 pm
The answer is simple: FIRE BOWLES NOW!!!
November 17th, 2025 at 2:27 pm
It was indeed shocking.
November 17th, 2025 at 2:28 pm
Why is simms shocked ? Bowles always does clueless things.. like have your edge rushers drop back into coverage
November 17th, 2025 at 2:33 pm
Not shocking. Typical Todd Bowles.
Clueless
November 17th, 2025 at 2:38 pm
Todd continually TRUST his AWFUL defense and not his strongest unit to win games
Why was Todd extended again?
November 17th, 2025 at 2:40 pm
Bowles doesn’t see the difference between week 3 at home vs the Tyrod Taylor led Jets and these games on the road in Buffalo or KC vs Mahomes and Allen.
Bowles isn’t a big strategy guy. He’s a we do what we do guy.
We’ve known this for a couple years at least. Great culture though.
November 17th, 2025 at 2:41 pm
Bowles is not going anywhere. You are wasting your breath even saying it. He just got a new contract.
November 17th, 2025 at 2:42 pm
shocked we didnt go for it on 4th down and the decision to go 2 for twice…
i didnt think we needed to go for 2 on either possession…it was obvious, both defense forgot to show up…i understand making it a 3pt game but we had no problem scoring…
GO BUCS!!!!
November 17th, 2025 at 2:43 pm
When I saw that play, I thought, “Why the F are we passing when we are averaging 6 yds a carry. Oh, it must be because we will go for it on 4th down.” Old Bucs logic. Not winning logic.
November 17th, 2025 at 2:47 pm
So it’s weekly now that the opposition is breaking nfl records. Nice! Go Bowles?
November 17th, 2025 at 2:47 pm
That ONE play ( out of many) totally destroyed any confidence I had that TB is a good head coach! I would bet that a survey of all HS head coaches in Tampa Bay Area would have run the damn ball in that situation. Twice if needed. Where was the Killer Instinct that we have heard about? It must have been left on the plane with the defensive game plan. I have not been on the fire TB bandwagon but just purchased my ticket. What a great time to have put VV in the backfield as a runner or blocker but that would require thinking out of the box. Funny that they won’t consider adding a couple of offensive plays for the big guy but won’t hesitate sending edge rushers 30 yards down field in pass protection! What kind of BS is that?
November 17th, 2025 at 2:49 pm
Simms has had Bowles pegged for a long time. This phony defensive guru crap is so easy to see through. He sells out to stop the run in a passing league so that way he has something at least to hang his hat on when it comes time to explain his failures everywhere else.
This team should have been in 4 down mode the entire 2nd half. Buffalo couldn’t stop the run, but….lets throw an incomplete pass on every 3rd and short.
The potential furure success of this organization walked out the door when they chose to keep Bowles and let Coen walk to Jacksonville. Everyone called Coen a snake in the grass, but he saw the writing on the wall.
November 17th, 2025 at 2:52 pm
Bowles has regressed back to his normal, mediocre self, after seeming like maybe he had turned a page in his handling of critical game-time decisions earlier in the season.
This is who we will always be with him and the helm: slightly better than average, just enough to give you hope and then get crushed in the wildcard round.
November 17th, 2025 at 2:52 pm
As soon as we sought the punt team come out I said and commented: “Bowles just waived the white flag, game over”.
November 17th, 2025 at 2:53 pm
Unfortunately, it is obvious the Bucs are not going to win a championship with him as the head coach. His scheme is nonsensical, and he is terrible at game management. Players, management and ownership love him, but he is nowhere near the level of a head coach as Tony Dungy and the Bucs let him go for good reason.
November 17th, 2025 at 3:05 pm
The outcome of your upcoming “Confidence” poll for Bowles, should see a noticeable swing this week. Exhibit A: not going for it on that critical 4th down play you described: Exhibit B: not developing and/or acquiring productive edge rushers. Exhibit C: consistently dropping “edge rushers” into coverage. Exhibit D: not adjusting the kickoff coverage after 2 long returns by the Bills. Add it all up, and we the jury have no confidences in Bowles’ ability to manage this team.
November 17th, 2025 at 3:10 pm
Unfortunately I think we’re stuck with Bowles for another 2 years.. he just got an extension. Unless he decides to retire out of no where.
November 17th, 2025 at 3:15 pm
The Glazers are morons for extending Bowles contract. With this guy here we’ll continue to get pummeled by good teams. It sucks because we see the glaring evidence almost all the time of him being embarrassingly out coached. We’re doomed with him. You know it. I know it.
November 17th, 2025 at 3:16 pm
Turned it off when the punt team came out. I can only think the head honcho’s at 1 buc are bidding their time for guys to come back from injury but the problem is all the hurt guys are on offense and the defense is the problem. If they think sneaking into the playoffs is a good thing, it ain’t. Getting there is good but winning there is a different story. They let 1 guy, 1 GUY beat them yesterday. Oh 2 if you count special teams. At this point I don’t know weather it’s a lack of coaching, talent, desire or all 3. I still put it on the players to produce but that was the crappiest display of defense and ST I can remember. They can’t stop 3rd and long. All that effort for nothing. For the last 2 games. Did they really thin anyone other than Allen was going to run the ball when they were close? Man up and blast his Ass. I saw my share of no calls on the Bill’s O-line, they were lassoing our guys like a calf roper at the Calgary Stampede, but that is small potatoes compared to the way we played on D. And that punt???????
November 17th, 2025 at 3:17 pm
Yes….the decision was questionable…..mainly because it didn’t work…..The two 2 point extra tries were also questionable because they didn’t work.
If these decisions worked, he would be a genius…….like us!!!
November 17th, 2025 at 3:28 pm
Not really shocking. There’s someone keeping track of ludicrous game decisions Todd makes. For a head coach with so much experience Toddism are very disturbing.
November 17th, 2025 at 3:28 pm
Now is the time to accept reality and limit future damage. Quit pretending. It should be all about protecting and keeping the first franchise QB the Bucs have had. The two or three others that might have been labeled that got squandered away. I contend that there would be less harm done by firing Bowles now and refocus the narrative on Baker and the future than to suffer continued indignities for the remainder of the season. Use the injury narrative for justification. It ain’t gonna get any better. Bowles has lost the team and the players are playing scared and with indifference.
November 17th, 2025 at 3:29 pm
Glazers only make changes when ticket sales slump.
November 17th, 2025 at 3:33 pm
Bowles sat down and drew up a play requiring Yaya to cover a WR. Then decided it would work. It cost us a TD. He is quickly entering the Tony Dungy tier. Time to say thanks and goodbye. I can’t see Baker and all winning a SuperBowl without a HeadCoach helping the effort.
November 17th, 2025 at 3:34 pm
If Baker packs up and leaves town ticket sales will be the least of the Glazer worries.
November 17th, 2025 at 3:40 pm
In the 2nd half, the Bills literally had 3-4 Wr’s open on every single pass play. Yet Bowles thought our D was going to get a stop and get us the ball back???
Ridiculous call. I knew we were going lose after that punt.
November 17th, 2025 at 3:40 pm
Go back to Cleveland with Tom Brady at QB and Bowles was worried THE GOAT might be more unreliable than his defense. This is who he is in key moments of a game….hes going to opt to try to not lose vs trying to go win the game. The league is geared to reward offenses, Bowles still believes defenses can “win championships”. It’s a flawed mentality.
November 17th, 2025 at 3:46 pm
Yeah they may make him get a D coordinator next year
November 17th, 2025 at 3:47 pm
I defended him for sooo lord but i am done now
November 17th, 2025 at 3:48 pm
Dave Canales and the Panthers are about to become the focus for the media. Bryce Young talk will drown out what was not long ago Baker Mayfield MVP chatter. The media would love nothing more than focusing it’s attention on North Carolina over Florida, especially with 2026 elections coming. Here’s your chance Glazer family, don’t mess it up.
November 17th, 2025 at 3:48 pm
Gonna get worse next week
November 17th, 2025 at 3:49 pm
Bowles has inherited a culture that Brady brought and talent that Licht drafted and turned it into a loser mentality. Joe the next time you talk to Reddick, Nelson or Vea ask them how they feel about dropping back into coverage off the record. I’m sure they are as baffled as we are.
November 17th, 2025 at 3:54 pm
Kudos to Chris Simms for speaking the truth, there is absolutely no excuse for this level of malpractice. Bowles did not give Baker the chance. Honestly Baker should be furious! I hope the Glazers realize this was an opportunity lost thanks to the bad judgement of Todd Bowles. He needs to be fired sooner rather thaan later.
November 17th, 2025 at 3:54 pm
Glazers…….Canales/ Idzik strike one …..Coen strike two …. what next ?
November 17th, 2025 at 3:55 pm
It seems like all year…..opposing team WRs are wide open or have 3 defenders just out of reach when they make a catch.
But….for us, tight coverage with contested passes broken up…little YAC…
Are my eyes deceiving me?
November 17th, 2025 at 3:55 pm
Liam Coen 🙃
November 17th, 2025 at 3:58 pm
That was the two Bowles needed to go for. Two yards, not two points. Glad Todd hired another coach to help him with these decisions.
November 17th, 2025 at 4:01 pm
Bowles = no confidence. Win or lose this is how I always rate him because his decision making skills are just so bad. Simms is saying what the voiceless fans see all the time with our idiot coaching staff. No matter what happens this guy isn’t getting the Bucs to the SB.
November 17th, 2025 at 4:02 pm
These conversations happen every single year
Groundhog Year
November 17th, 2025 at 4:06 pm
If the Glazers don’t play this right and I’m beginning to think they won’t then all the fans will then realize they don’t matter and it’s all about the money. Such an occurrence along with the state of the NFL would indeed be the final straw for this disheartened 50 year Bucs fan.
November 17th, 2025 at 4:13 pm
I guess the advisor called in sick yesterday or Bowles decided to turned down his common sense advice to run Tucker Run!
This decision is in alignment with not going for 2 in KC last year. SMH
November 17th, 2025 at 4:25 pm
Here’s what I think will happen not what should happen. The Glazers will stand behind Bowles and let this disaster season play out and after the super bowl they will either fire Bowles or more likely Bowles will retire. The morale of the team will have been beaten down. Lavonte, Evans, and Godwin retire. Baker holds his cards close and stalls for time while exploring his options. Whispers of huge money come his way along with the ability to call the shots. The uncertainty surrounding Baker and the franchise will scare off potential HC candidates. Baker will either call the shots here or somewhere else. The stubbornness of the Glazers will make for an epic power struggle. The fans will lose. I hope I am wrong.
November 17th, 2025 at 4:27 pm
Bowles is the same guy who took the ball out of the hands of Tom Brady to punt in Cleveland. Bowles is the same guy that punted twice from the Bills 42 yard line in the game. This is a guy who didn’t challenge a clear bad spot which gave the Bucs a 4th and inches (was bailed out by a fumble by the Bills on the punt).
But I’ll take all of that compared to this being a guy who plays that awful super soft zone defense despite the fact we have now seen years and years of it not working at all. When they play man, sure, they might get beat here or there for a big play, but they also get sacks, stops and turnovers – but the super soft zone results in nothing except passively giving up a TD on every drive.
November 17th, 2025 at 4:44 pm
In most normal circumstances it is the typical, and correct move to punt there and play the field position game still only midway through the 4th-Quarter, only down 5-points… You’re thinking at worse you can hold them to a FG (most offenses go very conservative there anyway, most of the time, with the lead). BUT, KNOWING what was currently happening to YOUR DEFENSE for most of the game… You have to go for it there, on a 4th & just TWO. You got to! And, I know Todd being an old-school ‘defensive-minded’ head coach, that he has to have confidence in HIS DEFENSE coming up with a big-stop there. BUT, you have to be flexible, and be aware of the current circumstances. Though, he is insistent on going for TWO midway through the 3RD-QUARTER, in ‘tight’ ballgames!? I don’t get-it. :/
November 17th, 2025 at 4:53 pm
Yes, it was a Shockingly Horrible decision by Bowles. What in his mind would make him think they could get a STOP? He needs to be Blasted for this. It was 4th and 2-not 4th and 10. Loser mentality. His strong suit is supposed to be the Defense and ours stinks!
November 17th, 2025 at 5:05 pm
Bucs with the lead, knowing the Bills get the ball to start the 3rd quarter had 4th and 5 from the Bills 45 with 1:17 left in the 2nd quarter. Dufus plays not to lose, punts and what do you know,Josh allen go the length of the field to take the lead into half time.
November 17th, 2025 at 5:28 pm
Yeah keep that 30th ranked 3rd down offense out there to convert on your own 38 yard line.
November 17th, 2025 at 5:28 pm
Remember according to him IF IT AIN’T BROKE DON’T FIX IT.
November 17th, 2025 at 5:34 pm
@Roscoe, Not only Bowles at the end of the season, but now I’m starting to think Jason also needs to go. The guy has had some good draft picks, but aside from that he has not made trades and good veteran signings in the last 4 years on the defensive side. He has also kept players that don’t produce way too long. Time to blow this defense up.
November 17th, 2025 at 6:06 pm
Fire Bowles.