Following the Bucs embarrassing 39-37 loss to the Houston Texans on the road, head coach Todd Bowles did not mince any words in his assessment of his ball club: specifically his defense. Todd Bowles was asked to lead off his post-game press conference by describing the Texans’ game-winning, six-play, 75-yard touchdown drive.

“We didn’t play good fundamental, or technique and we busted something that’s everyday practice. And if you can’t do that you can’t play in this game.”

Bucs Loss Was “Devastating” Due To Defensive Lapses

When asked to describe how devasting the loss was (considering the way the game ended on the heels of a three-game losing streak entering play).

“It’s a devastating loss, no doubt about it,” Todd Bowles said. “We’ve got to eat it. All of us feel the same way. Especially me. I’ve been coaching a long time. I haven’t been involved in too many of these where it’s been back-and-forth like that, and it came down on the other end. When a few things happened. And we’ve got to eat it and we should be pissed off all week. We own it. They scored more than enough points on offense to do it. Defensively, the fundamentals and technique, breakdowns at the end of the ball game, the start of the third quarter are unacceptable.”

When asked about quarterback Baker Mayfield’s performance Bowles said, “He gave us a chance to win. He gave us a chance to win. They (the offense) did a good job giving us a chance to win. Defensively, we’ve got to play better. That was bad all the way around.”

When asked whether he regrets not sending more pressure after Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud and sitting in zone coverage, Bowles responded, “If we did what we were supposed to do we would have been fine playing zone.”

Todd Bowles Will Retain Play Calling Duties

Bowles was later asked if he would consider giving up play calling duties he said, “No, that is not on the table right now.”

Something has to change for a defensive unit that is plagued by numerous problems including lack of consistent pass rush that has trouble creating pressure despite being one of the top blitzing units in the league, coverage lapses week-in and week-out and a play-caller that has been outcoached two weeks in a row. Bowles has been slow to make changes in the past.

Notably, last year he was slow to replace Luke Goedeke at left guard despite horrid play through the first seven weeks of the season. It would take an injury to Goedeke to fully cement his loss of a starting spot to Nick Leverett. This year Bowles has also been reluctant to replace Ryan Neal at strong safety despite poor play all season.

Bowles finally opted to replace Neal on late passing downs this week until Neal gave up a 75-yard touchdown to lead off the second half. Then, and only then, did Bowles finally decide to keep Neal on the bench.

Something has to change. Most likely multiple things have to change. Early in the game the Bucs defense was finding success with their corners playing closer to the line of scrimmage and challenging the Texans receivers earlier in the rep. In the second half that changed. The Bucs went back to soft zone coverage. The defense allowed 10 points in the first half and 29 in the second. You do the math.