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Pewter Report’s Scott Reynolds answers your questions from the @PewterReport Twitter account this week in the Bucs Mailbag. Submit your question to the Bucs Mailbag each week via Twitter using the hashtag #PRMailbag.  Here are the Bucs questions we chose to answer for this week’s edition.

QUESTION: Why can Todd Bowles beat Jared Goff and Justin Herbert, but give up 200+ yards in a half to Cooper Rush and allowed Kirk Cousins to have his two best games of the season?

Bucs HC Todd Bowles – Photo by: Jeffrey Jones/PR

ANSWER: It is maddening isn’t it? Bucs head coach Todd Bowles will say – and he’s right – that’s it not just the quarterback. It’s the other 10 players on offense and the system, as football is the greatest team game. But how many times have we seen lesser quarterbacks have career games against Bowles defense? And it’s not just this year, is it?

It’s the duo of Kenny Pickett and Mitch Trubisky in a 20-18 loss at Pittsburgh in 2022. It was third-stringer P.J. Walker the next week in Carolina in a humiliating 21-3 defeat. It was Jacoby Brissett in a 23-17 loss at Cleveland that season. It was Brock Purdy getting his first NFL start in a 35-7 blowout in San Francisco. It was rookie Desmond Ridder in a 30-17 loss at Atlanta in Week 18 to close out that 2022 season. Shall I continue?

Last year m, it was Ridder again in a 16-13 loss at Raymond James Stadium. It was allowing C.J. Stroud to set an NFL rookie record with 470 yards and five touchdowns, including the game winner in the final seconds, in a 39-37 loss at Houston. It was losing to Gardner Minshew, 27-20, in Indianapolis.

This year, it’s Denver rookie Bo Nix coming into Raymond James Stadium and Bowles’ defense having no answers in a 26-7 loss in Week 3. It’s allowing Kirk Cousins – a quarterback who absolutely stunk against virtually everybody else – to light up Bowles and his defense like a Christmas tree.

Cowboys QB Cooper Rush – Photo by: USA Today

Cousins, who is so bad that he got benched after a win for rookie Michael Penix Jr. by the current NFC South leaders, set a new Falcons record with 509 yards and four touchdowns in a 36-30 overtime win versus Bowles’ porous defense in Atlanta in Week 5. Then he threw four more touchdowns while completing 79.3% of his passes for 276 yards in a 31-26 Falcons win in Tampa Bay. Cousins has looked like a god versus Bowles and the Bucs with eight touchdowns and one interception in two wins, and a mere mortal against everyone else with 10 touchdowns and 15 interceptions and a 5-7 record.

On Sunday night, it was Cowboys backup Cooper Rush who looked like a Hall of Famer against Bowles’ defense, completing 26-of-35 passes for 292 yards with one touchdown and no interceptions in a 26-24 loss at Dallas. Rush was only sacked once and had plenty of time to throw most of the night. This is just damning indictment against a defensive-minded head coach who calls the plays on defense. These types of losses nullify the impressive wins against the likes of Jared Goff, Jalen Hurts and others.

QUESTION: When the season is over will the loss to the Cowboys be the game that causes a coaching change in Tampa Bay?

Bucs HC Todd Bowles and Falcons HC Raheem Morris – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

ANSWER: No, it’s the entire body of work this season – and perhaps during Todd Bowles’ tenure as head coach since 2022 – that will determine his fate. The loss to the Cooper Rush-led Cowboys – a team that was eliminated from the playoffs before kickoff – is quite damning for sure. It cost the Bucs the lead in the division and may ultimately play a role in Tampa Bay missing out on the postseason in the end.

But the Bucs have lost seven games this year. They were swept by Atlanta and that put them in position to need a one-win advantage over the Falcons in order to secure the division title again. Tampa Bay lost in overtime at Kansas City because of poor clock management, failing to go for two points, and of course by surrendering a touchdown on defense in overtime. The Bucs defense gave up the game-winning field goal to the 49ers in the last seconds.

It’s not just the blown opportunity in Dallas on Sunday Night Football, as Bowles and his team finished 0-4 in primetime games this year. It was other blown chances in close games, in addition to a 26-7 beatdown in Week 3 by the Bo Nix-led Broncos when the Bucs weren’t ready to play.

If Bowles wants to avoid being fired, he wins the next two games to finish 10-7 and hopes the Bucs make the playoffs as NFC South champs due to a Falcons loss to the Commanders next week or as a Wild Card due to a Commanders loss to the Cowboys in Week 18. And then I think he needs to certainly win the Wild Card game, otherwise I could see the Glazers moving on from Bowles, whose team has just been too inconsistent and hovered too close to .500 over the past three seasons. Bowles’ current record in Tampa Bay as head coach is 25-24.

QUESTION: Why do we consistently throw Todd Bowles under the bus when he’s coaching with a roster who has significant dead money and injuries on the defense? Bowles didn’t have the ball on the Dallas 26 and somehow we end up with a third-and-40 situation.

Bucs ILB SirVocea Dennis and HC Todd Bowles – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

ANSWER: The Bucs have had significant injuries on defense, and the team does have $60.7 million in dead cap money. Both of those points are valid. But the Lions have $38 million in dead cap money and have 19 players on injured reserve – 19! – and Dan Campbell’s team is 13-2 and vying for the top seed in the NFC, as well as a second-straight division championship.

Among those 19 players on I.R. are six starters on defense, including Pro Bowl defensive ends Aidan Hutchinson and Marcus Davenport, defensive tackle Alim McNeil, cornerback Carlton Davis III and linebackers Alex Anzalone and Derrick Barnes. It certainly seems like Campbell and the Lions have learned how to win despite not being at full strength, especially on defense.

By contrast, the Bucs have 10 players on injured reserve, but only two starters in safety Jordan Whitehead and inside linebacker SirVocea Dennis. Yes, cornerback Jamel Dean and safety Antoine Winfield Jr. have missed some time due to injury, but the Lions have been more decimated and yet they continue to win.

Tampa Bay’s offense did not play well at times in Dallas. Ball security and penalties were a big issue for sure, yet the Bucs still scored 24 points. That should’ve been enough against a Cowboys team that literally had nothing to play for but pride.

But Bowles’ defense gave up six scores to the Cowboys totaling 26 points, didn’t record a single takeaway, and allowed backup quarterback Cooper Rush to complete 74.3% of his passes for 292 yards and a touchdown. The middle of the field, which has been a huge issue for Tampa Bay’s defense all season, was once again an easy target on Sunday night.

QUESTION: Everyone is going to talk about Rachaad White’s fumble, and the end zone interception. But can we talk about Todd Bowles’ inability to manage the clock again? End of the first half, calling that timeout, scoring immediately, and then giving up chunk plays to let Brandon Aubrey nail another field goal from 50+ yards. Terrible!

Bucs HC Todd Bowles – Photo by: USA Today

ANSWER: Yes, poor clock management was once again a factor in another Tampa Bay loss, and this also happened in Kansas City earlier in the year. Todd Bowles, whose timeout usage as the Bucs head coach has been mercurial to say the least, did call a timeout too quickly and left the Cowboys with enough time to drive down the field to score a field goal right before the half.

That hurts, especially in a game where Tampa Bay lost by two points. And of course his defense failed to get a three-and-out – let alone a turnover – to stop the Cowboys’ last-minute drive prior to halftime. Bowles has had moments of brilliance as a defensive play-caller, but certainly not on Sunday. And he is not a good game strategist when it comes to timeout usage.

While the defense gets some credit for holding the Cowboys to four field goals, Dallas did have six scoring drives. And Tampa Bay’s defense failed to generate a single takeaway and lost the turnover battle 3-0 on Sunday Night Football. The lack of big plays and takeaways has been an issue all season for the Bucs defense. And it’s not a good look when the head coach is the one responsible for the defense.

QUESTION: Where the hell was Bucky Irving for those last few drives?

Bucs QB Baker Mayfield and RB Rachaad White – Photo by: USA Today

ANSWER: The Bucs were trailing by nine points, 26-17, and were in catch-up mode late in the fourth quarter. With Baker Mayfield likely dropping back to pass on virtually every down in that scenario, Bucs offensive coordinator Liam Coen turns to Rachaad White in those situations because he is the best pass protection running back on the team, and he is also a great pass-catching back out of the backfield.

Dallas knew that Tampa Bay had to pass and we all saw the pressure that Cowboys defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer brought late in the game. At 6-foot-1, 220 pounds, White is bigger and more capable of picking up blitzing defenders. It was a shame he fumbled at the end of the game, but I credit defensive back DaRon Bland for making a tremendous strip of the ball.

White actually had both hands around it and it was just a hero play by Bland to end the game. Plays like that – and Jourdan Lewis’ daring interception against Jalen McMillan at the goal line – are too far and few between for the Bucs defense, unfortunately.

Bucky Irving and Sean Tucker both need to improve as pass protectors for Coen to trust either in late-game situations. At 5-foot-9, 192 pounds, Irving’s size works against him in pass pro. But former Bucs running back Warrick Dunn was even smaller at 5-foot-8, 187 pounds and was a beast in pass protection back in the day.

Tucker gave up a sack that led to a Mayfield fumble against the Raiders, and Irving gave up the Bucs’ lone sack last week versus the Chargers. Irving is the most talented back on the roster, but needs to work on technique in order to gain Coen’s trust so he can be on the field instead of White when the game is on the line.