Did The Leadership Fail The Bucs?
September 14th, 2026
Todd Bowles said this month that the biggest change in the Bucs seen by fans this season would be the leadership sparked by the arrival of A’Shawn Robinson and Rakeem Nuñez-Roches.
Seriously, that’s what Bowles told The Rondé Barber Show. So it’s fair to ask whether that showed up yesterday in Cincinnati.
Joe saw ho-hum play from the defensive captains: Vita Vea, Alex Anzalone (more on him later today) and Antoine Winfield, Jr.
Joe also saw captain Baker Mayfield cough up three fumbles and get called for a critical delay of game penalty. Fellow captain Tristan Wirfs was called for two false starts, though neither killed a drive.
The Bucs also had dumb penalties from Tykee Smith (personal foul) and Cade Otton (false start to begin the second quarter).
This didn’t look to Joe like a team overflowing with leadership.
One could argue leadership doesn’t mean much, that it’s overrated because talent and coaching are far more important. Joe sure hopes that’s the case.
September 14th, 2026 at 11:52 am
Leaderless
September 14th, 2026 at 11:54 am
ZERO SENSE OF URGENCY!!!!!
GO BUCS!!!!!
September 14th, 2026 at 11:55 am
Captain Trash
The Bucs probably has the worst captains in the NFL
Vita Vea sat out practice, and demanded a trade
That’s the WORST example of leadership
These trash players are not leaders
They are overpaid trash players, bad examples for the youth
September 14th, 2026 at 11:56 am
Falcons, Bengals, Giants last night all these teams had awful defenses in recent years and turned it around
Todd has been here 7 years and the pass defense still sucks more than Melania on Epstein Island
September 14th, 2026 at 11:58 am
Vita Vea has always been just above ho-hum and yet this “centerpiece” of a terrible defense forced his demands. Part time malingering chud. He’s a prime example of whats wrong with this complacent version of the Buccaneers.
September 14th, 2026 at 12:05 pm
I’d have to agree that the leadership left this Team out to dry yesterday. The start looked really good and bright spots are to come, but Cinci had 4-5 sacks and we had just 1. (Sounds a lot like last year).
The mistakes by Baker were flatly unacceptable. I think the secondary play, minus some key misses, was a bright spot (if Parrish can remain healthy)
September 14th, 2026 at 12:06 pm
Baker Mayfield has to understand with a 55 million dollar contract comes a lot of responsibility. He has a lot of people’s jobs on his shoulders. A lot of folks are depending on him to play smart football and not be wreckless at his position. His play affects the lives and careers of coaches, teammates, owners, and a whole lot of fans all the way down to stadium vendors, etc. Now, Baker, you’ve got to live up to the expectations and faith that a whole lot of people are putting in your abilities to live up to this fat contract you just signed.
September 14th, 2026 at 12:07 pm
Starts from the wooden Indian that just stands there with his arms folded. No accountability!!!! None look at last year ST he rode that trash out all year teams starting at the 35 instead and f bouncing the coach
September 14th, 2026 at 12:12 pm
This will be the only time this year that we’re tied for first place. And for last place. I really hope that this is a case of overreaction Monday. For the most part, I purposefully missed the trollopalooza yesterday. I checked in on the game thread once or twice and it was exactly as suspected. I don’t think any of us thought we were going 17 and 0. And for the most part, if we’re going to lose a game, this is the kind of opponent that is best. Non-division. Non-conference. It’s funny, passing wise Baker had a nice game. But the turnovers… Simply can’t happen. And they won’t. Not like that anyway. So, it’s a long season. Chalk that one up to an ugly effort. Is the sky falling for some of the trustiest trolls, of course. They would have also excused a when that wasn’t dominant enough. Of course it just made it easier with a loss and the way we lost. Personally all reserve judgment till about halfway through the season.
September 14th, 2026 at 12:15 pm
Leadership begins and ends with the coach. It is a really bad look when the head coach has to openly lobby and plead for the players to lead and police themselves. I don’t care who the team captains are – when you look to the sidelines and see your head coach standing there with his arms folded and staring / squinting into space – it completely drains the energy and emotion from the players. There’s a reason Mike Evans left.
September 14th, 2026 at 12:19 pm
Nobody wants to hear this but Wirfs hasn’t been good in sometime or is it because bake holds the ball too long ?
September 14th, 2026 at 12:20 pm
The failure starts at the top.
The Glazers, for keeping a coach for their emotional attachment to him
Jason Licht, for thinking Anzalone was an answer at ILB
Todd Bowles, for running the same crappy defense for years, ala Lovie Smith
September 14th, 2026 at 12:30 pm
I’m sick of tired of hearing Vita takes on 2 blockers each play, WHO CARES bull doze them!! He was worthless yesterday and tell Anzalone that my son has a extra pair of cleats he can borrow!!!! Ridiculous!!! Go Bucs
September 14th, 2026 at 12:31 pm
I don’t think this has anything to do with leadership. It has to do with poor play. The Bucs did not play well in the trenches and were handled both the o line and d line. Maybe Wirfs and others need to play more in the preseason. Maybe we see now why Detroit let Anzalone go. The Bucs are still awful on 3rd down they give up to many plays. With all that said without the turnovers the Bucs could have won. Yep they made it easy for Cinn to look like a SB team.
I am now concerned about the o line. The Jags and now Cinn both really dominated the Bucs O line. I predicted the Bucs would start slow and will get better as the season goes. I never thought this team would win more than 9 games . With all the talent needed it is foolish to think this is a 10 win team. They still need an infusion of talent both offense and defense. ME is looking more and more that he made a good decision
September 14th, 2026 at 12:34 pm
They have a leader they follow. The sideline stiff.
September 14th, 2026 at 12:34 pm
“Joe saw ho-hum play from the defensive captains:”
I hate to say it but I saw the same thing Joe. Although Wirfs did look down right mad at himself at one point.
Hard to say why? But my theory is that the same as every year. Sloppy play to start the season is because we have soft camps these days. Thanks NFLPA/owners…
This year the starters got even less live full blown snaps. A half dozen in those worthless preseason games? I have a feeling that my old high school practices were tougher than what these dudes have now.
Hard to play football when you don’t practice football.
Go Bucs!
September 14th, 2026 at 12:35 pm
I need to rewatch the game.
But our defensive line got ZERO push.
Our pass rush was abysmal.
Vea has no legs. Just a stump.
Robinson looked fat and slow.
Yaya and Bain were dominated.
It’s only thé first game.
We looked better in the 2nd half. When they were gassed.
But they easily controlled our defensive line
September 14th, 2026 at 12:42 pm
Week 1…..lots of sloppy ball across the league. Obviously need to still find ways to win but the Rams looked terrible and they are still considered contenders. We played pretty bad on the road and still had a chance to win it. I doubt we’ll turn it over 4x against Cleveland, we’ll be at home….I believe we bounce back.
That being said, Bowles is now lost 8 of 9 or 9 of his 10 last games? The team looked undisciplined on offense and defense, the pass rush is still non existent, tackling is somehow getting worse every year. I get the players love Bowles but they don’t seem to fear him from an accountability standpoint.
Bowles has shown no ability to get his team out of a funk and certainly has come close to developing a pass rush or even consistent tackling. We lose to Cleveland and his seat his going to be the hottest in the league. Watson is the exact QB scenario we tend to struggle with. He’s a mobile vet, not a lot of tape on him….definitely the kind of game Bowles defense gets cooked in because the blitzing won’t be effective. Offense will have to carry us.
September 14th, 2026 at 12:50 pm
3 turnovers,and they were in it till the end..Against the all- world Burrow! They’re fine …On to wk2..
September 14th, 2026 at 12:54 pm
Yesterday was a classic example of why you don’t cave in to the demands of VV and Baker Winston. This team will always be rudderless with Bowles and Licht leading the way. GM Licht has overstayed his welcome bc of the Brady years and enough said about Bowles. To make matters worse, now the Bucs are stuck with theses 2 clowns and their fat contracts.
September 14th, 2026 at 12:58 pm
Four turnovers failed the Bucs, not leadership.
September 14th, 2026 at 12:59 pm
Man, 50 has been and still is overrated. He is way toooo invisible in toooo many games. There’s a reason why hes only worth a 4th rounder. Same for Winfield. Hes been invisible for two years and working on a third.
At 31, wanting to be paid like a top DT and team captain, you can’t hide.
Dont give double teams either. I isolated on him and he was double teamed rarely.
50 looked slow and the effort was not there. AWJ, time to move on. Dudes a safety. It’s not the most vital position on D.
September 14th, 2026 at 1:00 pm
One of the Captains ( The offense leader) committed 3 of those turnovers
September 14th, 2026 at 1:07 pm
2026 blueprint for success:
1) Keep the awe-inspiring T. Bowles
2) Sign some free agent stiffs…including home grown C.otton
3) Let VV dupe you out of a top off
4) Handcuff yourself to Baker Fumblerooski for 4 years
5) Wondef why it backfired spectacularly
September 14th, 2026 at 1:09 pm
The Glazers tried to shine up this turd (Todd Bowles) by replacing alot of the coaching staff. The problem is that a fish rots from the head and Todd is still the head of this team. John Harbaugh was available in the offseason for Pete’s sake and our cheap owners sat on their hands and did nothing. Look how good the Giants looked last night. I have a bad feeling about this Cleveland game next week. If we lose that game, it will completely expose the fact that Todd has lost this team and did it a long time ago (sometime halfway through last season). Most of the fans know this but for some reason, our owners and GM don’t (YET).
September 14th, 2026 at 1:10 pm
With the exception of a couple players it seemed like our marquee players just didn’t show up yesterday. This is not unfamiliar if you have been a Bucs fan any length of time. They kind of looked a little like they did the last several games of last season which if not corrected could spell real problems for this team.
September 14th, 2026 at 1:11 pm
I agree with Toilet Bowles. We need better leadership
September 14th, 2026 at 1:13 pm
The Bucs’ new captains didn’t show up yesterday. Rather than talk about their lack of leadership though, it’d be more appropriate to talk about their lack of big plays when big plays were needed.
Teams with a Minus-3 Turnover Differential like we had yesterday historically only win 8.4% of the time. Seems strange to me that we closed the gap to 33-26 with 3:19 left in the game (and Bucs still had 3 time-outs). Had we held them, we MIGHT have actually pulled it out. But instead, we let Burrow complete an 18 yd short pass (to the right), then a 14 yd pass (again to the right). After we stuffed Chase Brown for no gain, Burrow then hit a deep 18 yd pass to Higgins to seal the deal.
THREE completions each over 10 yds (for 1st downs) that nailed the coffin shut. Scott (#22) had a great opportunity to blow up that 1st play for a loss, but he missed the tackle. Anzalone (#34) then missed the tackle on the next pla, allowing them to get a 1st down. Then that deep pass, defended by McCollum, was the cherry on top of the hot fudge sundae … game over at that point (but it was a fantastic throw by Burrow & an even more fantastic catch by Higgins).
Bucs had a slight chance to win it with the score 33-27 at 3:19 left, we just couldn’t take advantage.
September 14th, 2026 at 1:17 pm
Looked at Vira on the sidelines during the 3rd qtr and his uniform looked like he was just running out of the tunnel to start the game. Burrow was comfortably sitting in the pocket making Sub sanwiches during the 1st half. No rush at all. Now, we should beat the Browns..or not?
September 14th, 2026 at 1:17 pm
Leadership? Lol the four fumbles failed the bucs.
September 14th, 2026 at 1:21 pm
*Sabby Anzalone
September 14th, 2026 at 1:23 pm
Anyone that is OK with the loss because it’s a non conference opponent needs to wake up fast.
Every game counts towards the total record that decides your fate getting into the playoffs, or playing golf in January.
But in it’s current form, the franchise prefers comfortable lies over inconvenient truths.
You want answers?? I want the truth!!! You can’t handle the truth!!!
September 14th, 2026 at 1:23 pm
It was preseason game number 4, time to move on
September 14th, 2026 at 1:27 pm
Joe loves to say leadership doesn’t matter and then post a billion times a week about it
September 14th, 2026 at 1:54 pm
I was at the game in Cincinnati yesterday and that crowd was rather quiet during the Bucs first drive. After that Baker fumble they got loud and roared the rest of the game. Bucs look like someone stole their milk money after the 2nd fumble and never recovered IMO
September 14th, 2026 at 1:59 pm
Looked about the same on TV, Jeffrey. Like many of us said, we lack Dawgs on the field and sidelines.
September 14th, 2026 at 2:06 pm
ds….. no your right, i don’t know if it was rust or what but wirfs did not look great at all yesterday. baker held onto the ball too long one time and he got hit and fumbled the ball, the other fumbles as bad as they are i can live with because he was trying to make something happen with his feet. but all i seen and heard was that this offensive line was a top 3 to 5 unit in football, and that’s not what i seen. look at the time joe had to throw compared to baker, it’s night and day. offense and defense both have to be a lot better though.
September 14th, 2026 at 2:40 pm
Two thumbs up: flip side to that coin could also be the problem- Baker trying to earn that contract in the first game playing hero ball
Or that might just be who Baker is – Scrappy Doo -Inferiority complex – million dollar arm with a 10 cent brain
September 14th, 2026 at 2:48 pm
Vita agreed to the $18 million then holds out for more money with a fake injury wow. He is a POS, IMO. Faking or exaggerating an injury or illness to avoid training or work is malingering, and the organization makes him a captain. The players just as bad for voting him captain. A real leader “Coach” should have banned him as even being eligible.
September 14th, 2026 at 3:08 pm
Wasn’t Wirfs nursing injuries through most of training camp?
September 14th, 2026 at 4:17 pm
Dexter Lawrence’s stat-line was nothing but goose eggs, same as Vea’s. Vea wasn’t as disruptive as Lawrence but he got plenty of push plenty of times. The dude is a unicorn and the league is running a shortage of DTs worth putting on the field. I can’t fathom how bad yesterday could have been had he been traded. He’s truly unreplaceable.
The leadership needs to be there this week on the practice field and in the film room. The team stayed fighting after the game was all but lost in the first quarter so it was there yesterday too. Good grief that was a baaaaaaaad start but the team’s effort and performance were excellent in many areas.
September 14th, 2026 at 4:18 pm
It sure seemed like after we resigned Vita Vea we haven’t looked the same ever since, starting in Jacksonville…. just sayin!
September 14th, 2026 at 4:31 pm
There are quite a few fans that don’t believe in on the field leadership and I strongly disagree. The great Bucs defenses ALL had leadership all over the field. Even if you’re just talking about leading by example, we’re strongly lacking across the board. Young players look up to the veterans! There should have been at least ONE player yesterday that dominated their position. This goes for the entire team not just the D!
September 14th, 2026 at 5:47 pm
I thought we played well. We moved the chains, we got off the field enough times. But the middle of the field still haunts us — easy yards to tight ends and tuddies up the gut for Chase Brown. Clean up the linebacker play and limit turnovers and we’ll be back in the win column most weeks.