“Chalk That Up To Scheme”
November 19th, 2025
This sure will serve as jet fuel for the stop-using-edge-rushers-in-pass-coverage crowd.
The football world watched Bills Pro Bowl running back James Cook run a delayed passing route out of the backfield Sunday with Bucs edge rusher Anthony Nelson sprinting off the line to cover him.
That’s a mismatch equivalent to Joe trying to have a weight-lifting contest with Jamel Dean.
Bucs head coach/defensive coordinator Todd Bowles seemed to blame himself.
“They had a heck of a play when they came through the line of scrimmage and caught a touchdown pass for us right there,” Bowles said on his official team radio show. “And they kind of outran Nelly. Chalk that up to scheme. They did a good job and ran a good play right there. But other than that I thought we did a decent job just trying to contain [Cook] and hold him down.”
Video of the play can be seen below. Indeed, the Bills saw an opportunity there with the play design. And, of course, it always helps an offense when there’s no pass rush.
James Cook III : 16 carries for 48 yards on 3 yards per carry; 3 catches for 66 yards & a TD (Over 1,000 yards rushing on the season) pic.twitter.com/F2gbA0VG1J
— Lee Harvey (@Sayian_Warrior) November 17, 2025
November 19th, 2025 at 12:06 pm
I’ve never seen a more talented roster wasted with poor coaching
November 19th, 2025 at 12:06 pm
Nothing to see here just like Bowles draws it up
November 19th, 2025 at 12:20 pm
Licht signed Reddick who is a bust then he didnt add any edge rusher at trade deadline. Some blame goes on him how many years do we go on without getting to the Qb? Bucky hurt, Evans hurt, Godwin hurt, Mcmillian hurt, we are out of weapons and honestly playing for 4 seed.
Lets wait see what we do in the playoffs before we panic or judge this season.
November 19th, 2025 at 12:23 pm
I would love to know what coverage was called on that play. Good play action and holding the safety to the middle. Was morrison man on the wr or in cover 3? If its man, then thats just a bad assignment, having Nelson on cook. If its zone, morrison should be on the outside guy but drifted in.
Either a bad call by bowles or a bad assignment by morrison.
November 19th, 2025 at 12:27 pm
Bowles is a damned fool!
November 19th, 2025 at 12:27 pm
Todd Bowles … “And they kind of outran Nelly. Chalk that up to scheme. They did a good job and ran a good play right there.”
Begs the bigger question Joe … If THAT explosive TD was due to poor planning (scheme), how many other explosive TDs, passing AND running, have been due to poor planning (scheme)?
Someone needs to put Todd on the spot & ask him that. I’m sure that the Bucs’ analytics staff has the answers.
November 19th, 2025 at 12:28 pm
Rosco is being moderated big time.
November 19th, 2025 at 12:51 pm
that was tough to read lol…damn bowles lol
whatever happened to LBs and Ss covering backs out the backfield lol…
im pissed and speechless…Sunday night cant come fast enough!!!
GO BUCS!!!!
November 19th, 2025 at 12:57 pm
Dropping OLB does that make our pass rush better or worse?
Maybe the Rams haven’t noticed. SMH
November 19th, 2025 at 1:01 pm
And watching LD54 playing CB was just atrocious!!!!
Time to go Todd….ADIOS!!!!
November 19th, 2025 at 1:01 pm
How can you expect a defensive lineman to cover a running back with speed.
You don’t have to be a Defensive coach to know that, however Todd Bowles is asking his linemen to accomplish that.
Some of Todd Bowles defensive plays are beyond head scratching. Jason Licht needs a conversation with Bowles and say “let’s end the insanity. Maybe fining him 6 figures will end the absurdity of covering receivers with Defensive players
November 19th, 2025 at 1:01 pm
bowels doesn’t care about the pass rush, us simpletons can’t understand the genius of this man. Scheme so good it’s bad I mean exotic.
November 19th, 2025 at 1:07 pm
They did a great job with Cook, for the most part. If you’d told me before the game that the Bucs were to hold HIM to just 3-yards per carry (6-yards per touch), and less than 50-yards rushing, then I would’ve told you that we’d won the game. It looked like, especially by the end of the game, that the defense had gotten tired of having to tackle Josh Allen. It was a pretty piss poor effort across the board, as far as their toughness.
November 19th, 2025 at 1:15 pm
There is zero reason why THIS Defense is THIS bad. They constantly seem so confused and off-balanced all the time. It makes no sense to play defense that way. It definitely, could not be any fun. That’s for sure. It just doesn’t make any sense.
November 19th, 2025 at 1:17 pm
Guys we could have Lawrence freaking Taylor out there, in his prime and it wouldn’t matter. Bowles would have him out there in the flats instead of rushing the passer. Point is Licht could have gotten Myles Garret for free and unless Bowles let’s him rush, it wouldn’t freaking matter. This isn’t on Licht and drafting busts. It’s Bowles and his scheme. Joe has laid it out so many times.
November 19th, 2025 at 1:27 pm
“They did a good job and ran a good play right there. But other than that I thought we did a decent job just trying to contain [Cook] and hold him down.”
Other than that, how was the play Mrs. Lincoln?
What a clueless bozo. 850 yards and 72 points is 850 yards and 72 points! Yes there have been VERY FEW good individual plays, but the defense hasn’t done a decent job of ANYTHING lately. But bowles will never get that through his stubborn head.
November 19th, 2025 at 1:30 pm
So the issue isn’t that Nelson, who is 6′ 8″ 285lbs and couldn’t break a 5.2 40 is covering a RB who runs a 4.4 one-on-one … and the issue is that they did a delayed route – that was the genius part by Buffalo that got you?
November 19th, 2025 at 1:38 pm
there’s a lack of talent on defense and that equals poor results
November 19th, 2025 at 2:09 pm
One has to wonder why Bowles thought that Nelly could ever cover Cook out of the backfield in the 1st place.
This lack of awareness and poor scheme by the HC/DC is a terminable offense in my view, since a reoccurring theme and a fundamental flaw that will most-likely never change.
November 19th, 2025 at 2:21 pm
So if the problem is a lack of talent on defense the smart thing is to simplify things and have the player do what they do best. Even if what they do best isn’t that good. Nelly covering a back, Yaya covering a WR both terrible ideas. Both should be rushing the passer and if you see the back releasing on your side get a shoulder or hand on him to disrupt the timing. Vita should always be going forward. I’ve said it many times there is no alpha on our defense that holds others to a standard and makes them scared to mess up. You can’t win a violent game of football with a bunch of beta types especially on your defense.
November 19th, 2025 at 2:32 pm
Am I missing something don’t we run a 3/4 defense? If so doesn’t that mean our OLB will have to play cover defense on occasion. Joe please tell me if I’m wrong on our defense scheme.
November 19th, 2025 at 2:37 pm
“Other than that”he said lol. No mulligans Bowles, it counted