Bucs head coach Todd Bowles has been in the NFL for a long time.

Not one to open up much, Bowles recently shared how he grew to fall in love with the game and turned that into an eight-year playing career in the league. He then joined the Packers player personnel staff after retiring in 1995, became a secondary coach in 2000, and has held various roles since.

With so many seasons under his belt at the highest level, everything becomes routine. That’s why – after getting eliminated in the playoffs during the past three years at the helm in Tampa Bay – Bowles is approaching this season differently and hoping it leads to a different result.

One where he is holding the Lombardi Trophy next February.

Todd Bowles Further Discusses The “Eureka” Moment He Had This Offseason

Todd Bowles met with the media back on April 1st at the NFL Annual Meetings in Palm Beach, Florida. Bowles took the time to answer plenty of questions, but one that stood out was when he was asked about his strengths and weaknesses as a head coach.

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

Bowles mentioned that he was watching film and had a breakthrough.

“The first thing I did when the season ends, I watch tape and I go over every call and see whether it was my fault or could it have been done better?” Bowles said then. “Was it taught? And if it was taught, was it executed? If it wasn’t executed, what can I do differently? How are people trying to attack me? How can I change as a coach? So from the start of last season, the end of last season until now, I have been working on how we can tweak the defense and make the defense better.

“What do we need from a playing standpoint? What do we have to do from a coaching standpoint and a teaching standpoint? And, what is it March now? It wasn’t probably until last week that where I finally had a breakthrough, because I’ve been racking my brain for months trying to go through a lot of things and talking to every coach, going over everything, seeing how we can get better. What can we tweak? What can we do? What do they see? What do we see?”

Bowles has been racking his brain over the past several months trying to figure out ways to get his defense back on track. With an extensive background as a defensive player and head coach, he surely did not like to see the Bucs’ defense flounder at times last season. To better complement Tampa Bay’s high-scoring offense, that side of the football needs to be better. He is excited to see how the formula he has crafted works.

Bucs head coach Todd Bowles – Photo by: USA Today

“We’ve finally come up with something that we feel like is a successful formula for our defense going forward this year and tweaking a few things and I’m excited about that,” Bowles added.

So, with the Bucs OTAs beginning this week, Bowles was asked about what that “breakthrough” moment was. While not completely revealing what it is, he clarified that it is not as simple as the defensive backs meeting together more frequently. Instead, a schematic change to the defense is in the early stages of being tested on the field.

“No, that’s not a Eureka moment – they’ve been in the same room quite a few times,” Bowles said. “A Eureka moment is figuring out what you want to do, schematically, for the next year and trying to put all the pieces in place with the coaches and understand what we want to do going forward. That was kind of the Eureka moment. It wasn’t anything flashy to say, ‘We’re doing this,’ or, ‘We’re doing that.’ It was kind of how we wanted to attack the season differently and what we want our guys to look like when they play.”

Todd Bowles Wants To See “More Interceptions” And “Clean Competition”

One of the main points of conversation when discussing Tuesday’s Bucs OTA practice was close but no cigar for the defensive backs.

While there is a strong competition brewing at nickelback, what will separate each member of the secondary apart is coming away with interceptions. After Jamel Dean and rookie Jacob Parrish each had pass breakups, with Zyon McCollum adding two of his own, Todd Bowles wants to see them catch them but also recognizes it is just the first day.

Bucs HC Todd Bowles and CB Jamel Dean – Photo by: USA Today

“I’d like to see more interceptions,” Bowles said. “We’ve been breaking up the passes – we’ve got to come down with them. It’s day one, it’s shorts and t-shirts, I’m not going to give the offense credit so I’m not going to give the defense credit.”

Maybe Bowles’ Eureka moment is figuring out how to put his defensive backs in better positions to make plays this season. Playing more press coverage and dialing up blitzes with an improved front seven could be a new wrinkle, or simply changing the coverage looks to keep opposing quarterbacks guessing and throwing in harm’s way more often. But no matter what Bowles has in mind, the players still need to produce when the opportunities present themselves.

All of the Bucs players and coaches have time to work on their craft during OTAs before mandatory mini-camp next month. What message does Todd Bowles have for his team right now?

“From a coaching standpoint, we’re trying to make sure they’re fundamentally sound, they’re where they’re supposed to be, they’re communicating, and they’re right from a technique standpoint,” Bowles said. “From a player standpoint, understanding the scheme and being able to do your job and have all the answers to the best of your ability – the best of your knowledge – and get [that] out of [it] so that when everybody gets to [training] camp, there’s clean competition.”