A once-promising year has seen the Bucs fall from 6-2 to 7-8. Much can be said about how Tampa Bay has collapsed, with the discussion starting with head coach Todd Bowles. Bowles has overseen the team’s lackluster results over the past two months while proving unable to provide answers.

The conversation has understandably shifted to whether he is the right man for the job, as the Bucs have failed to respond and come together under Bowles’ leadership. If the team’s back was against the wall before losing to Carolina, they are now aboard a Gravitron and holding on for dear life.

Todd Bowles Examines The Bucs’ Defensive Performance

Discussing what exactly went wrong for the Bucs in Carolina against the Panthers, Todd Bowles did not provide much of a solution about where the team goes from here. From a defensive standpoint, Bowles began by addressing the pass rush. Despite outside linebacker Yaya Diaby getting 10 pressures and the defense getting nine quarterback hits on Bryce Young, they came away with just two sacks on the day from inside linebackers Lavonte David and SirVocea Dennis.

How much did the lack of bringing Young down affect the rest of the defense?

Bucs DT Vita Vea and Panthers QB Bryce Young – Photo by: IMAGN – Bob Donnan

“It affects a little,” Bowles said. “The ball was coming out quickly with some empties and some things like that. The pressure we did get, we missed the quarterback on the touchdown, but it doesn’t affect everything. I thought for the most part the coverage held everything in front of them. I know they got behind [Benjamin] Morrison one time at the end and they got behind [Jamel] Dean before the half which can’t happen. When the pressure was there, the ball was coming out so fast, but we got to make some plays in the pass rush and getting back there.”

Young was able to complete 21-of-32 passes for 191 yards and two touchdowns, including a 22-yard touchdown to Tetairoa McMillan with Dean missing the assignment. Asked about why he blitzed in that situation before halftime leading 10-6 at the time, Bowles instead went over why his top cornerback failed to hold up.

Panthers WR Tetairoa McMillan – Photo by: IMAGN – Jim Dedmon

“They have to throw it in bounds or throw it out of the end zone,” Bowles added. “He should have been back and made that play. He did not make it.”

Those were the only real comments Bowles made about specifically about the defense. He then provided a confusing answer about whether the penalties or M.E.’s [mental errors] contributed most to the loss.

“It’s self-inflicted and it’s a different kind of focus between penalties and a different kind of focus between M.E.’s,” Bowles said. “Two weeks ago or last week, it was penalties. This week was more M.E.’s – this week was penalties, last week was more M.E.’s. We got to correct that part of it.”

How about correcting both?

Why Did The Bucs Run The Football SO Much?

What else drew criticism from Sunday’s loss was the stubbornness to “keep pounding” the football on the Panthers’ run defense. Despite rushing 33 times for 169 yards, they did not go about it in the most efficient way. Repeatedly running it on first down was poor playcalling on offensive coordinator Josh Grizzard’s part, while running back Bucky Irving had 19 of those 33 carries and averaged just 3.7 yards per carry.

The notion of going with the “hot hand” has proven to a false narrative, as evidenced by what has occurred in recent weeks.

Bucs RB Bucky Irving – Photo by: IMAGN – Bob Donnan

Since Irving’s return, he has averaged just 3.68 yards per carry on 67 carries and has yet to average four yards per carry in any game. Over the same four-game span, Rachaad White has averaged 6.57 yards per carry on 19 carries. Even Sean Tucker, despite mainly getting red zone touches, has three consecutive games with a touchdown.

Not only that, but the choice of consistently running up the middle against one of the best run stuffers around in defensive tackle Derrick Brown was not the soundest strategy, especially while playing a pair of backup guards in Dan Feeney and Mike Jordan. It took the ball out of Baker Mayfield’s hands until it mattered, all for the sake of controlling a game they still managed to lose. Yet Todd Bowles defended this decision after the game.

“They don’t play well when you rush over 30 attempts per game, statistically speaking,” Bowles mentioned. “I think we had some runs in there, we had a chance to throw it, but we controlled the time of possession and the clock all the way down until the end.”

It does not matter about controlling the clock without scoring enough points.

That is the object of the game, right?

With how poorly the defense has played, the gameplan should have been airing it out and trusting in the strength of the offense, which is Mayfield and his talented cast of wide receivers. Regardless of the signal-caller’s middling performance across the second half of the season, he is the franchise quarterback for a reason.

Turning the page on the Bucs’ latest defeat is hard given what has happened after the team’s bye week. While there remains a chance of making the playoffs by winning the last two games, optimism about this team doing anything in the playoffs is all but gone. They have had continued chances to play inspired football.

Bucs HC Todd Bowles – Photo by: IMAGN – Jim Dedmon

Heck, they even wore “inspire change” apparel on the sidelines.

Nothing has changed, leaving Todd Bowles acknowledging the team’s inability to execute and pulling a “Cheddar Bob,” which was a character who shoots himself in the foot in the movie 8 Mile starring Eminem.

“The biggest thing is that our confidence is good, and our camaraderie is good,” Bowles said about where the team is at. “That’s high, but that’s not enough right now. It’s the execution that we’re lacking and missing a few things here and there. We shot ourselves in the foot enough today to lose this ballgame by three.

“We understand that; we definitely understand that. We got to take it one day at a time. Again, I think the guys are accountable, the coaches are accountable. We’re going to load up, and we’re going to come back Monday. Hopefully in two weeks we get the chance to see them again and play for something.”