Todd Bowles’ Bucs team currently sits at 6-3 with some question marks about the state of the team. While still very much in playoff contention, cracks in the armor have begun to show in recent weeks, with Tampa Bay losing to the Lions and Patriots. A win over the Saints relieved some worried minds, but those worries have been exacerbated when considering what is ahead.

Acknowledging the team’s middling stretch of play on Monday, Tampa Bay’s head coach discussed where the team stands and what is in their way to becoming a great team.

Todd Bowles: Bucs Lacked Killer Instinct, Energy Coming Off Bye Week

The Bucs had chances to beat the Patriots and make a statement win coming off a bye week, but instead, they fell flat.

Bucs OC Josh Grizzard – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

After getting out to a 7-0 lead, Tampa Bay’s offense sputtered until the second half, while the defense gave up a handful of big plays that led them to come up short. Quarterback Baker Mayfield was not shy in sharing what was missing offensively, Todd Bowles took a holistic approach when asked about the team’s energy and lacking enough of an edge to come away with the win.

“We encourage our players to have accountability,” Bowles said in response to Mayfield’s comments. “I don’t think we had any killer instinct [on Sunday]. I thought we played like we had a bye week from an energy standpoint. We have it when we get rolling. It’s good for him to speak up and say those things. He’s one of our captains, as well as Vita [Vea], ‘Tae’ (Lavonte David), [Antoine] Winfield Jr., Mike [Evans], and all those guys. So, guys listen when they speak. They listen when they speak, and accountability is making sure the guy next to you is doing their job.”

The team collectively not doing enough led to some questioning the decision to give the players an entire week off, which provided the coaching staff plenty of time to self-scout. Bowles shut down concerns that Sunday’s loss was not a question of being sufficiently prepared.

Bucs HC Todd Bowles – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

“Really, all I gave them off was Wednesday,” Bowles said. “We usually have victory Monday. And Tuesday…They’re mandated four days off, and we were so banged up we got Wednesday off, so that made it an entire week, and we needed every bit of those days. We came back and we practiced and had a good week of practice. We just did not execute well.”

In Bowles’ mind, not executing on every play is what cost the Bucs in Week 10, and what is plaguing them on the quest to being a great football team. He has a point, especially considering New England scored 21 of their 28 points on touchdowns longer than 55 yards.

“The difference between a good and a great team is preparation on a daily basis,” Bowles said. “I don’t think we’re great. We prepare. Most of the time, we’re very good. It’s just one or two guys that have a blank or a [mental error] here or there that costs everybody else, and it’s a different guy each time, and we’ve got to get that fixed.”

It goes without saying that correcting errors is at the top of everyone’s mind heading into Week 11. The last thing that they want to happen is for the losses to snowball, and playing the 6-3 Bills and 7-2 Rams on the road is the latest challenge in a year full of them. Despite the upcoming opponents, Bowles reiterated the focus is not on them.

“We worry about us,” Bowles said. “We’re not worried about Buffalo until we play on Sunday. At this point, every week’s going to be a round-robin tournament. Everybody’s going to be playing for desperation, as we see it anyway. So, we’ve got to take care of the things we’ve got to take care of, correct our mistakes, come out and put our best foot forward, and execute like we know how to execute.”