It’s a sports bulletin board so yeah that happens, but I don’t see anybody doing that on this thread.
For me, Bowles is a good DC and a calming, steady influence on the team. My problem with Bowles is his in-game coaching. I hate when he takes the ball out of Baker’s hands to play it “safe” at end of games. It would be great to have a coach who has confidence in his offense and plays to win. In my ideal world, both Bowles and Coen stay. But reality tells me otherwise. And if I have to choose, I’m picking Coen. Modern football teams need an OC to be head coach because otherwise, if the offense is successful, the QB and offense are having to learn a new system every year. Just the way it is now.
Spot on…every word.
Well said.
Some of the X stuff isn’t analysis so much as its live, in-game reaction - but some of it is posted by analysts - and it’s hard not to agree.
One thing that always irritated is, as long as Brady was in New England - he consistently crushed Bowles defense. Some of it could be Belichick’s familiarity with Bowles tendencies.
Playoffs always give you better coaches and some of the best offensive talent & schemes. The Detroit divisional game last year certainly stands up to the criticism - sure look like Baker/Canales reeled-in the offense until moments of desperation. To his credit, Baker is typically a big moment QB, but in tough moments - like the Texans game and after Brady’s come-back against the Rams in the playoffs - when we needed the defense to get ONE stop we gamble on an all out blitz and we lose games that the offense seemed to have won. Maddening.
As I have said, I don’t disagree with the criticism of Bowles, but we can’t minimize the winning this team does for him. I’m good with the team doing a deep dive and making a decision. The “devil known” is the winning we get from Bowles in regular season games and games like his defense has given us in other big moments against Mahomes in the Super Bowl, against Philly in last season’s Wildcard game. Then you have the perplexing losses. I temper my criticism this year due to the of the lack of talent at edge/ILB/CB - and the injuries. However, as many have pointed out, he did bypass some superior draft options for other mediocre guys who tested well, but never were able to work into their production.
So the criticism is mostly valid.
The “devil unknown” is still VERY big in my mind, because I’ve seen some good coaches run out of town without having even tried to support them - like the organization doesn’t have a responsibility to support the HC development- just easy to throw another name into the mix and then ok with letting the gears grind them up. I don’t think that’s been the case since BA/Brady - so I’m willing to see how they handle this.
Then there’s the political angle, my least favorite aspect of the realities surrounding whether you replace a mostly/moderately successful HC who replaced a legend at QB and somehow kept winning. We don’t have to answer it, but the owners/GM will have to consider the ramifications of bringing-on a really successful one year wunderkind OC and make him a HC - no one has seen how/if he can be a Sean McVay-type. One who can handle both playcalling & HC responsibilities - and one who WILL commit to building a strong defense that can utilize the defensive pieces we have already committed a LOT of resources to - while maintaining the offense that is playing at a high level?
It’s why I believe the most expedient model is to let Bowles remain in place another year, promote Liam to co-HC, and start transitioning some HC responsibilities to him over the course of next season. Given Bowles a “promotion” to an advisory role (similar to BA’s current role), and start identifying/recruiting DC candidates from either college or league assistant coaches.
The organization wants to maintain the current level of success (and hates chaos) to maximize income. So my gut tells me they have advisors that have seen everything the pundits have seen. My philosophy on matters like this is: when the pain of change is less than the pain you’re in, you’ll change. To me, it’s a matter of how much pain the organization feels through the remaining 3 games and the performance of the Buccaneer’s in this season’s playoffs. If we over perform last season - any change will be a transitional. If we under-perform it gives them political cover to make more drastic change.
Thats my observation.
outside looking in, dude may get an extension
Lol, how are you coping with the bomb threats?
It is crazy how some people post here about Bowles. They post like it is personal and the only thing they know how to do is trash everything associated with him. Nothing is good or even average, its all BAD!
it is just like last year with Mayfield when he was "sending the RB the wrong way" or "missing multiple wide open guys." LOL. Some of the stuff here attributed to Bowles is laughable. Its ALL Bowles!!!
Just look at the heat that comes when you mention the offense struggling in a game lol.
Or even better yet, just look at the board now and try to find any of those over-the-top Bowles-hate posters posting about Quepo's and Ledyard's. Those two guys are routinely cited here as authorities on football and yet you will not find a reference to the last podcast where they BOTH credit Bowles for manufacturing a defense "with a lot of bad players on the field" (due to injury).
You will not see that stuff here -- even though its most favored sons Quepo and Ledyard -- because the podcast dismantles some of the most common (over-the-top) gripes about Bowles
Bowles has plenty of issues and there are many reasonable questions about his coaching, JUST LIKE ALMOST EVERY COACH IN THE NFL. But man, the stuff posted about him here is most often comically over the top.
It’s a sports bulletin board so yeah that happens, but I don’t see anybody doing that on this thread.
For me, Bowles is a good DC and a calming, steady influence on the team. My problem with Bowles is his in-game coaching. I hate when he takes the ball out of Baker’s hands to play it “safe” at end of games. It would be great to have a coach who has confidence in his offense and plays to win. In my ideal world, both Bowles and Coen stay. But reality tells me otherwise. And if I have to choose, I’m picking Coen. Modern football teams need an OC to be head coach because otherwise, if the offense is successful, the QB and offense are having to learn a new system every year. Just the way it is now.
I totally get the criticisms you raise. Totally reasonable
“And now Godwin is injured completely unnecessarily. A coaching disaster class by Todd Bowles tonight. Gross negligence.”
- Ledyard via Twitter
“Bowles clearly has no idea what’s even being proposed here, despite the fact it’s coaching 101 stuff.
Then offers a nonsensical explanation that just isn’t true at all. Really seems like it never occurred to him to use those timeouts at end of 4th Q. This is brutal.”
- Ledyard via Twitter
“Feel bad for Bucs fans. It shouldn’t be like this. Even a decent coaching staff has this team as a contender. Can’t retain Bowles or Leftwich. Only hope is Bucs administration realizing that over next couple weeks”
- Ledyard via Twitter
“It’s not tough stuff to figure out. But Bowles is an incompetent game manager…”
- Ledyard via Twitter
“Bowles has had ugly stretches as Bucs DC and HC, but nothing like this. The levels of miscommunication and mistakes are inexcusable. Not sure how it changes under him”
- Ledyard via Twitter
“It’s getting indefensible for Bowles. In this league you HAVE to be able to game plan for opponents. Can’t just run what you run. Good OCs will cook you. He’s lucky this isn’t worse today.”
- Ledyard via Twitter
“Don't ever change Todd Bowles soft coverage late 4th-Q defense.”
- Queipo via Twitter
“Hey look y'all. Todd Bowles *used* a timeout *kinda*”
- Queipo via Twitter
“Todd Bowles’ defensive gameplan this week is perplexing to say the least.”
- Queipo via Twitter
“Keep blitzing and blowing lanes.
Never change Todd Bowles.”
- Queipo via Twitter
Thanks for proving the point lmao
Jon & Josh break down the Bucs victory over the Chargers, including Todd Bowles getting the defense back on track
It is a weird season because the usual trolls are even more animated because of the "Bowles versus Coen" thing. Not sure thats real but boy did Bowles recent comment hit that issue hard. I though the board would be overrun with "hang Bowles, free Coen" lmao
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I hope he has and understands that we’ve switched to an offensive dominant team so we must score to win - and doesn’t take the position that his defense is back, it’s not. I think it’s getting healthy enough to work, but we still have to lean on the run game to minimize how much time his defense is in the field. We’re winning games by scoring points. I hope he can make that switch - because even last season that it was clear we can’t get a stop to end a game anymore. If he stays with that foundational philosophy, we just don’t have the horses to pull that off.“And now Godwin is injured completely unnecessarily. A coaching disaster class by Todd Bowles tonight. Gross negligence.”
- Ledyard via Twitter
“Bowles clearly has no idea what’s even being proposed here, despite the fact it’s coaching 101 stuff.
Then offers a nonsensical explanation that just isn’t true at all. Really seems like it never occurred to him to use those timeouts at end of 4th Q. This is brutal.”
- Ledyard via Twitter
“Feel bad for Bucs fans. It shouldn’t be like this. Even a decent coaching staff has this team as a contender. Can’t retain Bowles or Leftwich. Only hope is Bucs administration realizing that over next couple weeks”
- Ledyard via Twitter
“It’s not tough stuff to figure out. But Bowles is an incompetent game manager…”
- Ledyard via Twitter
“Bowles has had ugly stretches as Bucs DC and HC, but nothing like this. The levels of miscommunication and mistakes are inexcusable. Not sure how it changes under him”
- Ledyard via Twitter
“It’s getting indefensible for Bowles. In this league you HAVE to be able to game plan for opponents. Can’t just run what you run. Good OCs will cook you. He’s lucky this isn’t worse today.”
- Ledyard via Twitter
“Don't ever change Todd Bowles soft coverage late 4th-Q defense.”
- Queipo via Twitter
“Hey look y'all. Todd Bowles *used* a timeout *kinda*”
- Queipo via Twitter
“Todd Bowles’ defensive gameplan this week is perplexing to say the least.”
- Queipo via Twitter
“Keep blitzing and blowing lanes.
Never change Todd Bowles.”
- Queipo via Twitter
Thanks for proving the point lmao
Jon & Josh break down the Bucs victory over the Chargers, including Todd Bowles getting the defense back on track
He’s a great DC and a strong defense is needed to win in a playoff environment - but we don’t have one right now.
However, I do worry about casting him aside because we think it’s an offensive league…that’s also not true. If your offense is elite and your defense is good/great, you win post-season games.
My hope is we have a great run, perform better than last season, and we start a transition that lets us identify a DC that can build around what we have in place.
Bowles earned his chance, but he has to grow into a CEO-mentality, and at this point (and to me), he still makes some weird in-game decisions that I’m not sure are showing improvement. If he wins the division and does well, it will have shown me something. I think the Buc organization is looking for those same things too, but it’s just speculation.
I do worry about casting him aside because we think it’s an offensive league…that’s also not true
The "its an offensive league" thing is from the same people who proclaimed the running game dead in the NFL.
Everything in the NFL is cyclical. Todays "Oc to HC" things will be replaced by "DC to HC" etc and vice versa.
Buc fans should understand the value of a defense. We struggled part of this year with poor defense, we won a first Super Bowl with fantastic defense and we won a second Super Bowl with fantastic defense. Josh Q recently celebrated Bowles performance in the Super Bowl.
I think a case could be made that since we have a dominant offense, we should have an offensive minded HC, so long as we commit to rebuilding the defense.
Just don’t know how you remove Bowles IF he is able to win-out.
