Todd Bowles Defends His Defense, Claims It Is Not Complicated
February 26th, 2026
Laughs at suggestion his defense is complicated.
If one listens to sharp football minds who have played the game in the NFL, including some Todd Bowles players current and past, they say Bowles has a complicated defense.
Hall of Fame corner Rondé Barber has detailed this on his WFLA.com webcasts. One of the smartest men to have played the game, Barber consistently describes Bowles’ defense as not for the weak of mind.
Retired defensive back Logan Ryan played 11 NFL seasons, including in 2022 with the Bucs. He has spoken openly as a SiriusXM NFL Radio host about private early-morning film sessions with Bowles and how complex the Bucs defense is.
It seems Bowles gets a laugh out of these accusations.
Tuesday, in a sidebar with the Tampa Bay pen and mic club at the Indiana Convention Center, Bowles was asked about his “complicated” defense. Bowles busted out laughing.
“It’s really not,” Bowles said as he laughed. “We always tailor our defense to our players and definitely a rookie can come in and start. We have shown that at all levels of our defense. … we are just looking for the right kind of football player.”
Bowles was then asked if his defense was not that complicated, then why does he have his edge rushers pretend to be safeties when they should otherwise perform what they are paid to do: rush the passer.
Bowles bristled at the suggestion that outside linebackers playing pass defense is the root of defensive problems.
“Outside linebackers have been dropping for the past 30 or 40 years,” Bowles said. “We don’t ask them to go very far [back]. … it’s not very complicated to do. Obviously, it puts you out in space a little. It’s not complicated for the things that we did.”
Well, if Bowles’ defense is simplistic, then his assistants did a lousy job of coaching up players last season.
No matter how you slice it, the defensive lapses and deficiencies fall on Bowles. He is, after all, the guy calling the defensive plays and the head coach.
February 26th, 2026 at 9:37 am
3-&-28
And everyone … EVERY SINGLE BUCS FAN … knew Bowles’ defense was going to give it up.
WHY DO YOU ASK?
What insite could a clueless coach give after years of repeated failure?
February 26th, 2026 at 9:42 am
Insight
February 26th, 2026 at 9:42 am
Todd mirage bowles strikes again it’s not complicated it just give the illusion of being complicated so much so that our very own players were confused he even drops his defensive tackles into coverage what a genius.
February 26th, 2026 at 9:46 am
Equal opportunity confusion even the rookies can be as confused as the veterans in Todd mirage bowles scheme let everybody in on the fun.
February 26th, 2026 at 9:48 am
He’s 100% correct! His defense is not complicated for the opposing offense.
February 26th, 2026 at 9:51 am
Redblocks Says:
February 26th, 2026 at 9:42 am
Insight
Lololololol. That basically sums up the typical JBF commenter
February 26th, 2026 at 9:53 am
Again, Bowles throws his own players under the bus.
His system is not complicated and is tailored to the players on the field???
That implies that the players are not smart enough to grasp what Bowles considers a simplistic approach to defense.
Nothing will change on that side of the ball until the Glazers finally inspire change at OBP.
2026 will be a repeat of inept schemes and long sustained losing streaks.
But hey, we have the best “culture” in the NFL. #SuperBowles
February 26th, 2026 at 9:53 am
When is bubba gump gonna go back to being the captain of his shrimp boat
February 26th, 2026 at 9:54 am
Anthony Nelson covering James Cook on a go route for a TD from 40 yards out is pretty far, TODD! “And they kind of outran Nelly. Chalk that up to scheme. They did a good job and ran a good play right there.”
Save it, TODD! Your defense is outdated. Selling out to stop the run so a defense can throw deep on you in 2026 is malpractice. Chris Simms rips on him all the time for it. Why do we need 8 guys in the box when they’re throwing it all over you?
February 26th, 2026 at 9:55 am
Complicated defense? You mean the one that won us a Super Bowl five years ago?
Suh, JPP, Winfield Jr, David, Davis III, Barrett, White, etc. didn’t seem to have an issue with it while they were dominating.
February 26th, 2026 at 10:00 am
Obviously his defense is not complicated…..opposing offenses have no problem scoring and converting 3rd and longs consistently against that “COMPLICATED” defense.
February 26th, 2026 at 10:02 am
Not defending Bowles here but as ’74 Bucs fan says if his defense was not too complicated for opposing offenses what does that say about the guys playing defense? They either aren’t as smart as the opposing offense, were lazy and late in their assignments or just flat out didn’t have the talent. Bowles routinely said it was 1 guy missing their assignment at any given time and that’s all it takes for the play to blow up. I believe it’s a combination of talent and desire at certain positions.
February 26th, 2026 at 10:06 am
I think the complication of the defense is an over exaggeration for what players are asked to do in terms of cross-training and/or doing things that help facilitate the wide array of blitzes we’ll see this team use.
When say, a CB blitz gets home, nobody is complaining about the OLB on the backside of the formation protecting the flat in zone coverage.
But when you have a situation, where wires get crossed and there’s an OLB 30 yards down field, then it’s “OMG it’s so stupid to have OLBs in coverage”
Fans like it, until the notice enough to not like what’d they have no qualms about IF the play was a positive play.
February 26th, 2026 at 10:09 am
It is easier to teach man D, than zone. This is your man, follow him and try to know where the ball is – pretty simple. With zone, you defend an area. What if 2 players are in my area? And watch for the ball? It adds a layer of thinking. Thinking slows a player down from reacting and creates more chance for the player to make the wrong decision.
Bowles runs a lot of zone (as most NFL teams do), plus he adds layers of disguises and blitzing and switching player positions to cover who blitzed the QB, and… You get it. Layers upon layers of thinking and making a decision at each layer to react, so more steps that slow the player down to make that decision and more chance for the wrong decision. Wrong decision = D loses that play to the O.
Bowles probably looks at his D on a step by step basis with each step being a very simple decision. Instead of looking at it as a whole with the number of steps involved. This is why you hear coaches say to keep it simple so the player can play fast.
February 26th, 2026 at 10:11 am
When the Bucs general manager hired a consultant for Bowles to advise him when to use his red flag, which in itself is a red flag, I thought he was on the correct path. Now, with these new comments from Bowles, it is very obvious that Bowles lacks critical thinking skills. You can be a good coach and not have Critical Thinking skills, but not a head coach or a coordinator
February 26th, 2026 at 10:11 am
He’s got to coach it better and the players got to play it better- problem solved
February 26th, 2026 at 10:12 am
Well of course he’ll defend it. He’s not gonna say his scheme sucks. If somebody else ran that D they’d probably look much better.
February 26th, 2026 at 10:18 am
Warren, I agree with your observation. Makes sense. So ultimately it comes down to execution and talent. As noted above, when we had that going on in 2020 and that era, no one is complaining because the pass rush is getting there which allowed the other things to happen as designed. It’s when the pass rush doesn’t get home, or close enough to elicit The quarterback to make a mistake, we end up with situations like last year where Nelson and Yaya are exposed making the play look idiotic from the start.
February 26th, 2026 at 10:20 am
Ronde Barber says otherwise and I’ll take a 17 year pro’s word for it. Plus the fact that watching the other team score a 50 yard touchdown with a defensive lineman covering down field makes me wonder WTF.
February 26th, 2026 at 10:37 am
Todd lacks any self-awareness.
February 26th, 2026 at 10:39 am
Nor effective. Now stop asking him uncomfortable questions!
February 26th, 2026 at 10:40 am
The Curse of Bowzo continues.
February 26th, 2026 at 10:51 am
His defense shut down Mahomes to win the Super Bowl.
Shaq and JPP were great at tackling in space and dropping in coverage.
Yaya is very similar to JPP in terms of athleticism.
We just need to find another Shaq Barrett.
How Licht found him for 5 million that off season was just brilliant.
When Devin White was on fire, we had White and LVD who were extremely fast.
This defense needs TWO great inside linebackers to work.
We relied on KJ Britt and SVD the last two seasons. They were both 5th round picks.
We need two 2nd round picks at inside linebacker. Two guys who run sub 4.6
February 26th, 2026 at 10:54 am
This franchise is the only one in the NFL that would retain Bowles after the disastrous great collapse of 2025. The fraud should of been fired immediately after the Dolphin embarrassment in a season chuck full of embarrassments. Literally every metric shows just how awful the guy is in the modern NFL. The absolute worst one to me is the Bucs had the worst redzone defense in the entire league. 32 out of 32. Pass defense 29th out of 32? And these moronic owners didn’t even have the courage to force him to relinquish the DC position.
Mid finger to the Glazers.
February 26th, 2026 at 10:58 am
Please tell me Todd, why dozens of players have been out of position in your defense. Ones you say are very talented and knowledgeable and know the defense well but they just seem to be out of position.. Bowles will be gone soon with that attitude you have to adapt or be gone.
February 26th, 2026 at 10:58 am
His stubbornness will doom him.
February 26th, 2026 at 11:07 am
Its always word salad with this guy! How do you say you tailor your defense to the players, but also say we are looking for the “right kind of football player” in the same sentence?
February 26th, 2026 at 11:08 am
Is there another NFL team that is running his defensive scheme?
February 26th, 2026 at 11:08 am
OK great it’s not the defense it’s just you Bowles. It’s your low intensity training camps and practices. The defense is low energy just like him. I can’t remember the last time I’ve seen a big hit by a player light up the sideline. Can’t remember very many big hits, it’s enough for the to luckily wrap up
February 26th, 2026 at 11:10 am
I think we are all on to him, ever notice its never him or his scheme. O coordinators fault, scheme is easy so it must be the players! Players see this so they just follow his lead.
February 26th, 2026 at 11:19 am
The Guru speaks.
February 26th, 2026 at 11:21 am
Looks like we are safe to bitch about bowels as long as we don’t say fire him….LOL
February 26th, 2026 at 11:32 am
He’s apparently telling the truth. Opposing passing games would vouch for that. Its so uncomplicated that even rookies and backups carved it up yearly.
Its an over/under front with a prevent on the backside. Its not discriminatory to the short pass, mid pass, or deep pass…it will gladly give them all up equally.
February 26th, 2026 at 12:21 pm
Rather than describing Todd’s defense as ‘too complicated’, I think it’s more appropriate to describe it as ‘high risk’. With optimal TALENT at all positions, that risk is mitigated substantially. Without that optimal TALENT, the risk increases substantially & the points allowed start piling up.
I wish that JBFers would take a detailed look at our 2020-2021 defensive results and compare them to our 2024-2025 defensive results. We had TALENT at each starting position back in 2020 & 2021, and Todd used it well. Blitzing is a critical aspect of his defensive strategy, and back then he blitzed incessantly (542 blitzes in 2020 & 526 blitzes in 2021).
Our defense got 48 sacks, 116 QB hits, 91 TFLs in 2020 while ranking #8 overall (#1 Run defense & #21 Pass defense). Then in 2021 it got 47 sacks, 127 QB hits & 81 TFLs while ranking #5 overall (#3 Run defense & #21 Pass defense). Our combined record for those 2 seasons: 24-9 in regular season plus 5-1 in playoffs with 1 Super Bowl victory.
But then fast forward to 2024-2025 defensive results. We haven’t had nearly the TALENT levels that we had earlier. Todd still blitzed a bunch (461 blitzes in 2024 & 276 blitzes in 2025), but the results weren’t nearly as good.
Our defense got 46 sacks, 113 QB hits, 81 TFLs in 2024 while ranking #16 overall (#4 Run defense & #29 Pass defense). Then in 2021 it got 37 sacks, 89 QB hits & 83 TFLs while ranking #20 overall (#5 Run defense & #27 Pass defense). Our combined record for those 2 seasons: 18-16 in regular season plus 0-1 in playoffs.
Bucs’ defense surrendered 708 points in 2020 & 2021 together (21.5 PPG) and 796 points in 2024-2025 (23.4 PPG). Two pts average per game may not seem like much, but during those 4 years, Bucs played NINE games that were decided by 2 points or less. Fortunately, Bucs were 3-1 in 2-pt games in 2020-2021, and 3-2 in 2-pt games in 2024-2025.
Bucs also played EIGHT more games during those 4 years that were decided by 3 pts. Unfortunately, Bucs were 0-2 in 3-pt games in 2020-2021, but 3-3 in 2024-2025. So that’s 17 games won or lost by 3-pts or less in those 4 years … and we pretty much broke even (9 wins, 8 losses). Kinda reflective of our record these past several years? We’re pretty close to being a ‘break-even team’.
February 26th, 2026 at 12:36 pm
D shouldnt be complicated Todd!!!! Pass rushers RUSH, corners COVER the dam wr, and LB, well, theres where you can play around a little, sometimes rush sometimes cover…..JEEZE!!! BUT NO!!!! Drop a 350 lb D line guy into coverage…SMDFH!
AHHHHH! Im so ready for this to be OVER!
Expect 5 wins guys, sorry.
February 26th, 2026 at 12:41 pm
Just draft McDonald so they can’t run on us.
You would see a ton of inside pressure if we get the big guys.
February 26th, 2026 at 12:44 pm
It’s concerning that Bowles refuses to take accountability for his sucky D. In another interview he basically blamed Grizzard…for the DEFENSE!
February 26th, 2026 at 12:46 pm
RodMunch reminds us daily how good the Bucs defense is. The Bucs sole problem is Baker Mayfield. Munch also very fond of the special teams play and thinks the fired, special teams coach got a bad deal.
February 26th, 2026 at 12:58 pm
Jason Light – career .449 losing % = LOSER
Todd Bowles – career 61-74 – .452 losing % = LOSER
THESE GUYS ARE LOSERS!!!!!
Dear Glazers – stop hiring LOSERS ya freaking loser owners.
February 26th, 2026 at 1:04 pm
Bowles is a loser that needs to be fired. Cant wait to see him fail again this season. We got DE running 40 yards Downfield to cover a Running Back
February 26th, 2026 at 1:07 pm
It’s not complicated. You stand around flat footed in zone and then wait for something to happen, then react. Simple as could be.
February 26th, 2026 at 1:10 pm
4th and 14 , 3rd and 28. 🤮. Both Terrible Todd and Loser Licht are going to give us another season of poor defensive draft picks, third string FA edge rushers and a defense that will be bottom of the barrel. Nothing will change until the coach does and Terrible Todd sees no need to change.