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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 do so many media pundits and fans think Todd Bowles is a bad coach?

Bucs HC Todd Bowles and OLB Yaya Diaby – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

ANSWER: For the national media, I think it dates back to his time as the head coach of the New York Jets. After inheriting a 4-12 team when he took over in 2015, Bowles and the Jets went 10-6 in his first season as head coach. But New York just missed the playoffs that year and poor play and a contract issue with Ryan Fitzpatrick doomed Bowles and the Jets after that as the team went 5-11 for two straight years. Then the Jets drafted Sam Darnold in the first round in 2018 and the team finished 4-12, which led to Bowles’ firing after compiling a 24-40 record without any trips to the postseason.

Since taking over for Bruce Arians, who abruptly retired in 2022, Bowles has compiled a 17-17 record in the regular season with an 8-9 season in his first year in 2022 and a slight improvement in 2023 with a 9-8 record. Bowles is also 1-2 in the postseason as a head coach in Tampa Bay. I think there are some in the media who may feel like the 2022 Bucs really underachieved because the team had a losing record in Tom Brady’s final year. But Brady didn’t play that well in 2022 largely due to his very public divorce, which was certainly a distraction.

That had little to do with Bowles, who did his best to accommodate Brady, allowing him to miss over a week of training camp and also attend Robert Kraft’s wedding in New York on a Friday night before flying in on Saturday for the team’s 20-18 loss at Pittsburgh. Some suggest that Bowles wasted Brady’s final season in the NFL, but that had more to do with the terrible job Byron Leftwich did as a play-caller that season.

Bowles was stuck with Leftwich as the offensive coordinator that season per the terms of him taking over for Arians. Leftwich was so bad that he’s been unable to find work as a coordinator or even a quarterbacks coach in college or the NFL since Bowles fired him after the Wild Card playoff loss to Dallas.

But to Bowles’ credit, his revamped coaching staff seems better than ever this season and more talented than the past two seasons. The players absolutely love him because he treats them like men and with a ton of respect. And he’s also won back-to-back NFC South championships with two distinctly different Bucs teams – a much older one in 2022 and one filled with rookie and second-year starters last year. If Tampa Bay can get to double-digit wins, win another division title and advance further in the playoffs, Bowles will get the credit he deserves.

QUESTION: The offensive scheme looks good even without starters. The O-line and running backs look like the process is right. Wide receivers were open in Jacksonville but there were missed throws. It’s concerning that the defense gives up third-and-long situations just like last year. How does this keep happening?

Bucs HC Todd Bowles and co-DC Kacy Rodgers – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

ANSWER: Neither the Bucs offense nor the defense looked good in Jacksonville – in both joint practices and the game. I think the Jaguars won the week 3-0 if you count the practices. It served as a good wake up call for this Tampa Bay team has not “arrived” yet and should not be crowned. This Bucs team will need to continue to build and progress over the next three weeks to get ready for the season opener on both sides of the ball.

It should be noted that the Bucs have been resting and rehabbing several star players, especially on defense. Todd Bowles’ unit was without its top two pass rushers in outside linebacker Yaya Diaby and defensive tackle Calijah Kancey, as well as starting strong safety Jordan Whitehead and outside linebacker Joe Tryon-Shoyinka. Those are four key starters that instantly make the defense better when they return to action.

What concerned me about practice was that inside linebacker K.J. Britt looked good against the run, but I’m not sure he’s made the kind of strides in pass coverage that the team needs him to make. And the other inside linebacker, 34-year old Lavonte David, is not the spry, fast coverage linebacker he used to be. The team’s best coverage linebacker, SirVocea Dennis, has been out of action for the past two weeks due to injury and won’t play in this week’s preseason finale, either. I’m also a bit concerned with the amount of times that wide receiver Brian Thomas Jr. and tight end Evan Engram got behind the Bucs defense in practice.

I’m not as concerned about what happened in the 20-7 preseason loss in Jacksonville. Most of the young defensive backs who blew their coverages won’t be on the 53-man roster this year. I know the amount of third-and-long situations that the Bucs surrendered to the Jaguars was maddening, but here are two things to keep in mind.

First, the Bucs aren’t going to show their hand in the preseason and play the coverages they’ll actually play in those situations during the regular season. And second, co-defensive coordinator and defensive line coach Kacy Rodgers called plays on Saturday night – not Bowles. I don’t think Rodgers’ specialty is coverage. I think his specialty is the defensive front and creating pressure up front, evidenced by the team’s five sacks against the Jaguars.

QUESTION: What’s up with Calijah Kancey and will he be ready for the season opener?

Bucs DT Calijah Kancey and OLB Yaya Diaby – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

ANSWER: Bucs defensive tackle Calijah Kancey is nursing a mild knee injury, but he’s expected to return to action. The Bucs have been holding their starters out of the first two preseason games, but I don’t think the team will risk playing Kancey on Friday night versus Miami even if he returns to practice this week. Kancey is not sporting a knee brace, which is a good sign.

Even if he is cleared to practice, I don’t think the Bucs will have him participate on Wednesday when the Dolphins come to town for a joint practice. The Bucs have been cautious with several starters on defense and Kancey will join outside linebacker Yaya Diaby (ankle), outside linebacker Joe Tryon-Shoyinka (neck), strong safety Jordan Whitehead (thigh), in addition to inside linebacker SirVocea Dennis (upper body), who won’t play in the preseason.

And it’s doubtful that the Bucs will put defensive tackle Vita Vea, inside linebacker Lavonte David and safety Antoine Winfield Jr. in harm’s way and play them on Friday night in the preseason finale either. We’ll see.

QUESTION: Should fans be concerned about Chase McLaughlin’s kicking?

Bucs K Chase McLaughlin – Photo by: USA Today

ANSWER: Yes. The fact that Chase McLaughlin has made just one of three field goal attempts during the preseason is concerning. He made a 35-yard field goal in the preseason opener at Cincinnati but also had a 51-yard attempt doink off the right upright. He missed a 42-yard attempt wide left in Jacksonville on Saturday, which was even more unsettling. McLaughlin has made all three extra point attempts though, and was perfect on those last year.

“Any time a kicker misses a field goal or an extra point it’s bothersome to me,” Bucs head coach Todd Bowles said on Saturday night after the game. “He was great last year. We’ve got to iron it out, and we have to get it done.”

When asked about whether or not the team would bring in competition for McLaughlin in training camp after his shaky start, Bowles said on Sunday: “It’s a little late for competition. Chase has been pretty consistent. We’ll clean up what we need to clean up and we’ll be better going forward.”

McLaughlin was a very reliable kicker last year for the Bucs, posting a career-best 93.5% field goal percentage, including going 7-for-8 on attempts from 50-plus yards. McLaughlin, who earned the nickname “Money McLaughlin” last year, parlayed that success to a three-year contract extension worth $12.3 million and averages $4.1 million per season. The deal also includes $6.5 million in guaranteed money. It’s time for “Money McLaughlin” to earn that money and return to last year’s form.

QUESTION: With Baker Mayfield going into his second year, has your opinion of him as a person and a quarterback changed or evolved, and if so, how? And although it’s only been one year, did the Bucs know what they were getting in Mayfield, or do you think they see him completely different as a player heading into 2023? We knew he was going to be the starter when he did not play in week two of the preseason last year.

Bucs QB Baker Mayfield and HC Todd Bowles – Photo by: USA Today

ANSWER: My opinion of Baker Mayfield as a player did change last year. Earlier in the season, I said he was not a difference-maker at quarterback after a Week 8 loss at Buffalo in my post-game 2-Point Conversion column. Instead, he was more of a point guard distributing the ball rather than a scoring guard who could make enough big plays to carry a team to victory with his right arm.

But Mayfield engineered a come-from-behind win at Atlanta, had a perfect QB rating and four touchdowns the next week in a huge win at Green Bay, and after a 30-12 win over the Jaguars on Christmas Eve in which he passed for 283 yards and a pair of TDs I changed my tune and proclaimed him a difference-maker. He also showed up big time with three touchdown passes in Tampa Bay’s 32-9 dismantling of Philadelphia in the Wild Card playoff win at home.

I found Mayfield to be quite humble upon his arrival in Tampa Bay last year in free agency. He went from being the face of the franchise in Cleveland to quickly become a journeyman quarterback during the span of one calendar year – being trading to Carolina, then claimed off waivers by the Los Angeles Rams and then signing a one-year, prove-it deal worth $4 million in Tampa Bay. That journey humbled him and he just showed up and worked hard last offseason. He quickly ingratiated himself into the team last year and the rest is history.

To me, I find Mayfield very easy to deal with. He does walk around with a chip on his shoulder for sure, but I appreciate his edge. This team needs it – and it feeds off of it. Mayfield is as team-oriented as any player could be and I think he’s done a lot of growing up over the last three years. It’s no wonder he’s been welcomed with open arms by his Bucs teammates, by Buccaneers fans and the city of Tampa.