Todd Bowles’ Study Routine Restored?
August 23rd, 2026
How many times can 2025 Bucs offensive coordinator Josh Grizzard be hurled under the bus?
That’s unclear. However, it felt like Jon Gruden went there last night. Chucky was on the WFLA-TV Bucs game broadcast sharing nuggets from his pregame meeting with Bowles.
“I liked visiting with Todd Bowles the other day. I think he’s back in his routine,” Gruden said.
“He trusts the offense, the direction they’re heading. He’s back into his study routine and he’s taken full control of this defense. And so far it has really showed tonight.”
Joe’s translation of Chucky: Bowles had panic attacks knowing Grizzard was his coordinator last year and it detracted from his ability to be the best defensive coordinator he could be, including watching enough film.
As Sage of Tampa Bay Sports Ira Kaufman noted on his podcast early this morning, ‘Why couldn’t somebody else work with Grizzard?’
August 23rd, 2026 at 1:19 pm
Yes!
I picked up on that comment
August 23rd, 2026 at 1:21 pm
Right. Well, letâs see how things go this year before Todd gets a pass.
August 23rd, 2026 at 1:24 pm
Grizzard wasnât ready, thatâs what this tells me. Z-Rob with his experience in comparison to Grizz, frees Bowles up to focus on his defense. Kind of lines up with what Rachaad White said about him needing to be able to focus on the big picture, makes it hard to do that holding the hand of a your green OC.
August 23rd, 2026 at 1:41 pm
Iâve said it here before but it concerned me greatly watching Grizz holding the clipboard while his hands were shaking. Shaking clipboard is now way to go through life.
This happened well in to the season. Not a good look or a confidence builder. Imagine being a RB standing next to shaky Grizz on the sidelines. âYou want to run what play again?â
August 23rd, 2026 at 1:44 pm
There was plenty of fault to go around last year, not only Grizz but the defensive line coach and secondary coach–they’re all gone now. You certainly can see a difference in the enthusiasm. It’s all about injuries and depth now. The fact that Licht was willing to back Bowles said a lot.
August 23rd, 2026 at 1:46 pm
Todd needs to study up on how to be a good head coach.
August 23rd, 2026 at 1:48 pm
His 8th year as a HC and we think this is the big problem? Grizzard had to go but I seem to recall the defense being awful in â24 with one of the best play offensive callers in the world on our sideline. What was the issue that season? Did he not study enough that year too?
Excuses from a guy this old doesnât play.
August 23rd, 2026 at 1:59 pm
Sigh.
August 23rd, 2026 at 2:01 pm
Todd made the decision to hire Grizz.
Todd made the decision to not hire a D coordinator.
He made his bed.
August 23rd, 2026 at 2:01 pm
Joeâs translation of Chucky: Bowles had panic attacks knowing Grizzard was his coordinator last year and it detracted from his ability to be the best defensive coordinator he could be, including watching enough film.
—————————
Translation ? He wasn’t speaking a foreign language Joe. A more correct statement would be Joe imagines or speculates or Joe fantasizes. In other words Joe makes puts words in people’s mouths
August 23rd, 2026 at 2:02 pm
Bowles doesn’t really have a choice but to trust Zac Robinsons offence. The Falcons and Kirk Cousins passed the ball at will against his defence during Zac’s time in Atlanta.
August 23rd, 2026 at 2:02 pm
Yeah lets blame the guy that we hired saying he is the next genius coach but let Coen go and extend this bum.
August 23rd, 2026 at 2:23 pm
After 2 preseason games you can’t determine pretty much anything about the Bucs. Really haven’t seen the first team play or know if the Bucs defense is good or bad. The big concern is depth in the corners secondary or if Baines or anyone on the defensive line will strike fear of the Bucs opponents.
The key is keeping players healthy and on the field. The last few seasons had the Bucs playing good before the bye week and losy for the remainder of the season. Too many ifs to assess who the Bucs will have healthy this year.
We still have important Players like Godwin staying healthy. It’s a crap shoot, anyone’s guess. Betting on the Bucs is fools gold.
August 23rd, 2026 at 2:28 pm
One excuse after another for such a lousy performance at such a high position …
Here’s to new Bucs hc Sean McDermott 2027 …. CHEERS!
August 23rd, 2026 at 2:32 pm
@HeartyDickerson,
Exactly! He picked Grizzard and didnât have a D coordinator. He made that bed and it was crapped in after 6-2 start. I would argue the 6-2 start was luck more than skill at times.
August 23rd, 2026 at 2:32 pm
I am quite optimistic that our defense will be better as will our special teams….
I’d like to see some passes downfield this year……seems to me, we rely on the WR screens & dumps to backs & TEs too much.
Last night it seemed our WRs weren’t getting open……at leas not for Browning….he stood there staring downfield until he got pounded.
August 23rd, 2026 at 2:45 pm
Not an excuse: if a HC/DC can’t do both jobs effectively, for +whatever+ reason, then it’s his responsibility to get help.
August 23rd, 2026 at 2:46 pm
Bowles is never at fault. He’s a guru. An absolute genius.
LMFAO!!!!!!!
I’ve never seen such an unqualified buffoon get such overwhelming coverage from every angle.
A delicate little flower Todd is. Prim and proper. Don’t disturb his excellence.
August 23rd, 2026 at 3:29 pm
We panicked when we promoted Grizzard to OC.
August 23rd, 2026 at 4:55 pm
This is the reason Evanâs left, grizzard schemed him to an injury during a historic stretch of 1k yards..plus heâs on the decline and he didnât want this decline on the bucs history books. Hopefully Todd can get back to being Todd and not Mr 3rd & 28
August 23rd, 2026 at 6:43 pm
Let 1st preface this by saying I am not excusing Bowles performance as a DC last season. But I have taken offense with rhis “Throwing Grizzard Under The Bus” since it was first uttered on this corner of the interwebs.
For Perspective
Definition of throwing him under the bus;
To “throw someone under the bus” means to betray, blame, or sacrifice a friend, colleague, or ally for selfish reasons, usually to avoid trouble or to gain a personal advantage.
It describes a situation where someone deflects criticism away from themselves by making someone else take the fall.
Common Examples
At work: A manager makes a major mistake on a project. Instead of admitting it, they blame their assistant during a meeting with the CEO to save their own job.
At home: Two siblings break a vase. When their parents get angry, one sibling immediately points at the other and says, “They did it!” so they won’t get grounded.
Key Traits of the Idiom
Betrayal: The person being blamed is usually a friend, coworker, or teammateânot an open enemy.
Self-preservation: The act is motivated entirely by protecting one’s own reputation, status, or interests.
Scapegoating: It turns the other person into a scapegoat to face the negative consequences alone.
The truth here is the Griz was not ready to be an OC, Did he get hired elsewhere as an OC – No hs is back to being a passing game coordinator for the Eagles.
Even Baker Mayfield criticized Grizzard’s scheme as too predictable.
The point is Grizzard sucked as an OC, so he was fired. If that is throwing someone under the bus then why hasn’t this site claimed the same thing when Byron Leftwich was fired because he sucked?
August 23rd, 2026 at 7:01 pm
Joe … ‘Joeâs translation of Chucky: Bowles had panic attacks knowing Grizzard was his coordinator last year and it detracted from his ability to be the best defensive coordinator he could be, including watching enough film.’
Despite everything bad written about Grizz, the Bucs did in fact start off the first 8 games with a better record than any year since 2021 (when we went 13-4 under BA). I’m sure there was some ‘luck’ involved last season, but we beat some excellent teams in getting off to a great start (12-5 Texans, 14-3 Seahawks, 12-5 San Fran 49ers). And then the wheels fell off.
Was it that other teams finally figured out Grizz’ offense & he never adjusted? Was it injuries that crippled us? Was it that our offense imploded at exactly the same time that our defense imploded? Did our luck simply run out?
If this was a multiple choice test I’d say the answer is E … All of the Above. And the guy who had to deal with figuring out not just what was going wrong, but how to deal with it, was DUAL-HATTED Todd Bowles. And that’s the dilemma that all dual-hatted coaches face: When things go totally wrong, there simply aren’t enough hours in a day to FIX IT. Just watching our defense in the 2nd half of last season, you could see a TON OF COMPROMISES being made, and most just aggrevated the on-field situation.
So yes Joe, HOPEFULLY Zach Robinson is able to operate this offense with absolute minimum ‘oversight’ from Todd Bowles, so that Todd can focus on the defense. THAT will give us our best chance of winning the NFC South crown and making some noise in the playoffs.
August 23rd, 2026 at 7:08 pm
Just excuses from Bowels to not take the blame for his putrid defense, players and play calling from last season. The defense was the problem besides he hired the OC with no play calling experience
August 23rd, 2026 at 7:13 pm
1. you canât keep throwing new OC at Baker & just hope Baker makes it work.
Canales was competent, Coen was next level, Grizz flopped. Due to all this Baker is on a prove it year and he will make silly mistakes trying too hard to prove himself.
2. Bowles D was awful the last 8 games. he should own that.
3. I donât see too much different this year, 10-7 ceiling. D is STILL not good enough.
4. we are expecting too much from Baines.
August 23rd, 2026 at 7:31 pm
“Heâs back into his study routine and heâs taken full control of this defense.”
Probably just the preseason hype speaking, where you get your hopes up, but between this comment, and Bowles comment about his corners being good in man coverage… could we really be seeing the end of his God awful super soft zone? Just playing some tight coverage will dramatically increase either the sacks or turnovers – hopefully both.
August 23rd, 2026 at 8:14 pm
bowles motto is we do what we do he never had a study routine worth mentioning. its why backups and rookie qbs have nice games vs bowles
August 24th, 2026 at 1:49 am
Scary
August 24th, 2026 at 2:47 am
ErrrrrâŚ. Was he also helping Dave Canales and Liam Coen? Because his D was not much better those seasons eitherâŚ
Joe uses regularly the phrase: âyour best ability is availabilityâ. I start to believe Toddâs best ability is âEscapabilityââŚ. Or shall is say âEscapegoatingabilityâ?
SadâŚ