INTRO: On the heels of a big win in the Motor City, this is a Todd Bowles-driven SR’s Fab 5 column – complete with a Motown soundtrack (see Fab 3). You’re going to learn a lot about the Bucs head coach, so buckle up.

FAB 1. Admit It, You’re Warming Up To Todd Bowles

That 20-16 upset win by Tampa Bay in Detroit last Sunday certainly helped, didn’t it? You like Bucs head coach Todd Bowles a little more this week, don’t you?

Bucs head coach Todd Bowles – Photo by: USA Today

Yeah, you miss the brashness of Bruce Arians, who would sometimes cuss in press conferences, and always cussed at the refs on the sidelines. That franchise-record 63.3% winning percentage and that Super Bowl LV trophy that Arians delivered in Tampa Bay were kind of nice, too.

You old-timers might think of Jon Gruden and his fiery coaching style the same way. Gruden and his Chucky persona captivated the fans and the media back in the early 2000s the same way Arians did. No other Bucs head coach has won three division titles (2002, 2005, 2007) and Super Bowl trophy since Gruden.

Yet Bowles is planning on doing something no other Bucs head coach has ever done.

Win three division championships – in a row. And hopefully the third Super Bowl title in franchise history.

At the start of training camp, Bowles put his team on notice that it’s time to contend for a Super Bowl – this year.

Bucs fans’ relationship with Bowles has been a bit rocky at times, and that’s understandable. After his defensive masterpiece of a game plan shut down Patrick Mahomes and held the high-powered Kansas City Chiefs offense out of the end zone in Super Bowl LV, his ill-timed, all-out blitz against the L.A. Rams the next year proved to be costly in the final seconds of a crushing NFC Divisional Playoff loss at home in 2021.

Some fans hold Bowles accountable for “ruining” Tom Brady’s final season in the NFL as the Bucs backed into the playoffs at 8-9 in 2022, which was his first season as head coach. In reality, that was on Brady, as his high-profile divorce in-season proved to be a distraction.

Bucs HC Todd Bowles- Photo courtesy of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers

And offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich was also to blame that year, as the Bucs’ scoring dropped from 30 points per game in 2020 and 2021 to just 18 points per game in 2022. Bowles did the smart thing and fired Leftwich after a disappointing 31-14 home playoff loss to Dallas in the Wild Card round. That was a story that yours truly broke on PewterReport.com literally seconds after the Cowboys beat the Bucs.

Fans felt better about Bowles initially in 2023 after the Baker Mayfield-led Bucs raced out to a surprising 3-1 record before the bye week. But losing five of the next six games had Tampa Bay mired at 4-7 in late November and Bowles firmly on the hot seat at that time.

Instead of talking about a playoff run after Thanksgiving, fans and the media shifted to discussing who the Bucs would be drafting with a possible Top 10 pick, and who might replace Bowles as Tampa Bay’s next head coach.

Week after week, loss after loss, Bowles would say nearly the same thing at the podium in his press conferences. His team just had to pay attention to the details and play better. And that he and his coaches had to coach better. It was a simple as that, but the same refrain frustrated the fan base.

Yet Bowles was right. And even though it looked bleak at the time, it turned into a December to remember in Tampa Bay. Bowles never panicked despite the 4-7 record, and because of that, neither did his players.

That’s what great leaders do. They don’t worry about problems. They focus on finding solutions.

While rookie offensive coordinator Dave Canales was showing improvement and finding his groove as a play-caller, Bowles was tinkering with his defensive lineup.

Bucs HC Todd Bowles and OLB Yaya Diaby – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Rookie outside linebacker Yaya Diaby became a starter, replacing Joe Tryon-Shoyinka, and wound up leading the Bucs with 7.5 sacks – all of which came from Week 8 through the end of the season. Inside linebacker and team captain Devin White, one of Bowles’ favorite players, was injured, but he was also underachieving. The defense got immediately better when Bowles benched him in favor of K.J. Britt.

The Bucs reeled off four straight wins against the Panthers, Falcons, Packers and Jaguars. Tampa Bay lost a home game on New Year’s Eve to New Orleans, 23-13, but clinched another division championship with a 9-0 win at Carolina in Week 18. Bowles’ defense allowed an average of just 16.8 points per game in those victories, as the Bucs won five of their last six games.

Bowles likely saved his job with his end-of-season coaching performance. His 32-9 trouncing of the Eagles, which featured another masterpiece of a game plan, in a home Wild Card win was sweet revenge for a Week 3 home loss to Philly on Monday Night Football. And it absolutely cemented the fact that Bowles would be back in 2024.

After another disappointing loss to the Lions, this time in Detroit in the Divisional round of the playoffs, Bucs fans were eager to see if Bowles could finally solve Jared Goff, who has been a puzzle Tampa Bay’s defensive-minded head coach just hadn’t figured out yet.

At the start of the 2024 season, some Bucs fans were fretting about facing Washington’s rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels, the No. 2 overall pick, on opening day. They were choosing to remember how rookie QB C.J. Stroud carved up Bowles’ defense in a stunning, 39-37 loss at Houston last year and forgetting how Bowles and his unit made life miserable for fellow rookies Will Levis and Bryce Young (twice) in three wins over Tennessee and Carolina, respectively.

Daniels didn’t throw a touchdown in Week 1, was sacked twice, and harassed all day as the Bucs built a 37-13 lead late in the game before a garbage-time touchdown run by the rookie with just over a minute left made the final score 37-20.

Lions HC Dan Campbell and Bucs HC Todd Bowles- Photo by: USA Today

Despite being the underdog – and being under-manned – Bowles and his Bucs got revenge against Goff and the Lions in their den last week, 20-16. Bowles’ game plan was much better this time around after being swept by Detroit last year. Goff was pressured into two interceptions, had nine passes broken up, and was hit 11 times despite not being sacked.

Since taking over as Tampa Bay’s head coach, Bowles has helped the Bucs beat plenty of arch-rivals. Bowles and the Bucs beat the Cowboys in the 2022 season opener, 19-3, on Sunday Night Football in Dallas. Then Bowles did something that even Arians had a problem doing, which was beating New Orleans, and did so twice in 2022.

The Bucs also got a win over the Rams – finally – in 2022 with Bowles at the helm, in addition to winning the franchise’s first-ever European game, a 21-16 victory over the Seahawks in Germany.

Last year, Bowles beat the Eagles in a revenge game in the playoffs, proving he could win in the postseason. This year, Bowles and the Bucs got revenge on the Lions.

Perhaps Tampa Bay will also be able to extract some revenge on San Francisco, as the 49ers have beaten the Bucs in each of the last two years by a combined score of 62-21. This time, the game will be played at Raymond James Stadium in Week 10.

Bowles’ regular season record is now 19-17. He’s 7-1 in his last eight regular season games and 8-2 in his last 10 games, including the playoffs. That’s the second-best record in the NFL over that span – behind only the 9-1 Buffalo Bills.

The Bucs are hot right now because Bowles always stays cool, calm and collected.

So how do you like Todd Bowles now?

Are you a Bowles believer?

FAB 2. Despite The Age Gap, Todd Bowles Relates Well To His Players

Bucs head coach Todd Bowles turns 61 on November 18. He doesn’t look 60, nor does he act like it.

Yet Bowles is the fourth-oldest coach in the NFL this year.

So how does a coach that is roughly 35 years older than his players relate so well to them? I asked a handful of Bucs in the locker room this week, beginning my query by asking them how old they think Bowles is.

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

Tampa Bay cornerback Jamel Dean was first up, and pointed out how his eight years playing safety in the league for the Redskins (1986-90, 92-93) and the 49ers makes him incredibly relatable.

“Is he 62?” the 27-year old Dean said. “Oh, he’s 60? Ooops! I added a few extra years to his life. Todd played in the NFL, so he knows what we’re doing and what we’ve been through. Being a former player, you’ve got that experience and being able to relate to us and understand what we’re thinking and how we think and what we’re going through.”

Bucs reserve safety Kaevon Merriweather also overshot Bowles’ age a bit.

“I’m going to go with 63,” the 24-year old Merriweather said. “Oh, he’s 60? Okay, so I was close. We have a lot of respect for him as players. He played a long time in the league, and he has a lot of knowledge. We all just want to learn from him. All of us in the safety room especially – Antoine [Winfield Jr.], Jordan [Whitehead] and Tykee [Smith] – we all know that he has a lot of knowledge that he can give us from that standpoint. He played our position. We all want to be successful.”

Next up was defensive tackle C.J. Brewer, who was the closest when guessing Bowles’ age.

“Dang, you put me on the spot,” said Brewer, who is 26. “I think he’s like 60 or 61, but he doesn’t act like it. He takes care of his body and everything.”

I reminded Brewer that Bowles did have a knee replacement this offseason.

“Oh yeah, you’re right,” he said with a laugh. “It’s through football – that’s how he relates to us. He helps us understand the game better. It’s not a problem – the age difference. He knows so much that he helps us out along this football journey by helping us really understand the game.”

Bucs rookie center Graham Barton did not want to play along.

Bucs LT Tristan Wirfs and HC Todd Bowles – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

“No, I don’t know [how old Bowles is] – and you’re not getting me! Sorry!” said Barton, fearing his guess would be wrong. “Coach Bowles is great. He loves football and you can see it in his approach. He’s more mild-tempered, but you can feel the enthusiasm he has for the game, and he projects it to us. He relates to the players with his passion for the game and the constant desire to see us improve. He sets the mentality the right way for us.”

Bucs inside linebacker SirVocea Dennis was way off about Bowles’ age.

“I know he’s in his 70s I believe, but I don’t know his exact age,” Dennis said before I told him Bowles was 60. “Oh, really? Well don’t tell him I said that then!”

Too late, Voss.

“To me he relates to my parents a lot,” Dennis said. “Whether it’s the culture, the music or the jokes he has – the dad jokes. He relates to me like my parents do – very well. I would say that’s the same for a lot of us here.”

Bowles does come across a father figure the way that Tony Dungy did in Tampa Bay when he coached the team from 1996-2001. Dungy’s players had a ton of respect for him during his time as the Bucs head coach and didn’t want to disappoint him the way a son doesn’t want to disappoint his father.

Although it may not come across in ever press conference, Bowles’ sense of humor and his penchant for constantly cracking jokes on his players makes him extremely relatable.

Bucs HC Todd Bowles and DB Tykee Smith – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

“Coach Bowles – I would say he’s around 50 or something,” said 23-year old rookie defensive back Tykee Smith. “He’s a player’s coach and he jokes around a lot with us. He has some swag and he allows the players to be themselves.”

Bowles’ jokes, little cracks and digs at the players are really endearing to the team and they come rapid-fire on a daily basis behind the scenes.

“He jokes around with us a lot and makes us feel comfortable,” Brewer said. “He jokes around with us in the film room and on the practice field a lot and he makes football fun.”

Several Bucs players said that Bowles stays young by being around them.

“I think we keep him young,” Merriweather said. “He likes to joke around with us a lot. We joked about him having his knee replaced this summer – but not too much because he would come right back at you.”

Age truly is just a number for Bowles. His players know that he won a Super Bowl with the Redskins in 1987 and one as a defensive coordinator with the Bucs in 2020, and they soak up his knowledge and wisdom like a sponge.

Bowles’ players have seen how his even-keeled approach helps Tampa Bay handle success the right way and how it didn’t allow the team to lose hope when things were grim last year at 4-7 in late November.

And his dad-like approach – complete with an open-door policy and plenty of dad jokes – makes him perfectly relatable to the modern-day NFL player.

“Todd is kind of young, though,” Dean said. “I think we keep him young – him being around us. And us not complaining, either – we’re good kids. We keep him young as much as possible.”

FAB 3. Todd Bowles Lets The Music Play

One of the more notable changes when Todd Bowles took over for head coach Bruce Arians, who abruptly retired at age 69 in March of 2022, was the return of music at practice in Tampa Bay. Several Bucs coaches in the past played music at practice, and that’s become a staple at most college programs these days, too.

But when Bowles allowed the Bucs to have a soundtrack at practice there was one condition. It would be his playlist to start Friday’s practice.

Now Bowles has an eclectic taste in music, as he revealed in a Buccaneers.com interview back in 2019.

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

“I listen to a lot of music. I’m a big music lover. All kinds except for heavy metal or opera. It doesn’t matter whether it’s rap, R&B, jazz, gospel, soft rock, country, doo wop, acapella, I have an extensive music collection.”

When asked which artists he likes the most, Bowles rattled off nearly a dozen names.

“Ooh, Gladys Knight,” Bowles said. “I love Jay-Z. It all depends on what genre you go to. I love The Eagles. I’m a big LL Cool J guy. Big Outkast guy, big Anthony David guy, Alicia Keys guy. Whether it’s The Temptations or New Edition, it runs the gamut. … I can’t work without music. I can’t watch tape without listening to music. I can’t workout without it.”

Bowles tolerates some of today’s rap music, which is popular among his players, especially the 20-somethings. But he prefers throwback songs on Fridays – not as punishment, but to enhance the culture of his players with some good old school hits.

Whether it’s Motown or rhythm and blues, Bowles’ Friday playlist is a hit with the players. Last Friday’s practice featured songs from legendary R&B singer Frankie Beverly, who passed away recently on September 10 at age 77.

“It’s old school music – that’s my type,” Bucs defensive tackle C.J. Brewer said. “I’m from the country and my parents were older, so that’s the kind of music I would hear when we were all cleaning the house. I’m into old school music, so that’s up my alley. Earth, Wind & Fire, The Gap Band – a lot of old school.”

For a lot of the players, listening to the old school songs brings back a lot of good family memories and puts a lot of smiles on the Bucs’ faces as they prepare for the final practice of the week.

Bucs DT CJ Brewer – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

“I know a pretty good amount of those songs,” Merriweather said. “I used to listen to them with my grandma back in the day. I know a couple of songs Coach Bowles likes. All the Motown songs – my grandma used to listen to those back in Detroit. She had a record player and she had the whole collection of the original records from back then. I can relate to a lot of those songs he plays.”

Just even mentioning Bowles’ Friday playlist gets inside linebacker SirVocea Dennis excited.

“Oh, man – Todd’s playlist is cool!” Dennis said. “There’s a lot of old school in there and there are a lot of us in here that really appreciate that kind of music. Everything he does and everything he puts on the play list we all love. It really resonates with us.”

The Bucs are one of the youngest teams in the league, but music is another way the players can connect with old man Bowles.

Veteran linebacker Lavonte David, the team’s oldest player at 34, likely has more in common with Bowles than anyone else due to shorter age difference. David loves Friday practices to see what’s on Bowles’ playlist each week.

“That’s what I grew up to,” David said. “I had older parents, so definitely on the weekend we were blasting that kind of music then. That’s all my dad listened to – old school jazz and oldies songs when we were in the car. I couldn’t touch the radio! Motown, Teddy Pendergrass – lots of old school songs I’m used to from Frankie Beverly and Earth, Wind & Fire. All of it.”

When it comes to music, it’s all good in Bowles’ neighborhood.

FAB 4. Todd Bowles Has His Favorite Bucs

Whether they admit it or not, every teacher has his or her teacher’s pet. Favorite students who stand out because they connect with curriculum, are well behaved and make the teacher’s life easier – not harder.

Bucs head coach Todd Bowles has his favorites, too – and some of them might surprise you.

Bucs HC Todd Bowles and CB Zyon McCollum – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

I didn’t ask Bowles to give me a list of his guys because he wouldn’t want to create any divide in the locker room, which is smart. He believes in all 53 guys and the additional 16 players on the practice squad, otherwise they wouldn’t be in Tampa Bay to begin with.

Linebacker Lavonte David and All-Pro safety Antoine Winfield are givens, right? David has run Bowles’ defense since Bowles arrived in Tampa Bay in 2019. Winfield is Bowles’ ultimate chess piece – a player he can use all across the board.

When I asked Bowles about cornerback Zyon McCollum in a pre-training camp sit-down interview, the head coach began by saying, “My man!” No one has believed in McCollum since Day 1 more than Bowles – with general manager Jason Licht, who traded up to get him in the fifth round of the 2022 draft, a close second.

David, Winfield, McCollum and outside linebacker Joe Tryon-Shoyinka, another favorite, were all called “chess pieces” by Bowles this past offseason. While you might be down on JTS, Bowles loves him because of his versatility to rush the passer, play the run and drop in coverage, as he’s the best coverage outside ‘backer in Tampa Bay.

Defensive tackle Will Gholston and sixth-year outside linebacker Anthony Nelson are also a few of Bowles’ faves because of how smart and trustworthy they are within his scheme.

Safety Jordan Whitehead is also a Bowles favorite because of how hard he plays and how well he communicates in the secondary. Bowles always stresses the importance of communication on defense and is thrilled he’s back in Tampa Bay this year.

Tampa Bay’s defensive play-caller is also a big believer in K.J. Britt – so much so that he benched one of his former favorites, Devin White, at the end of last year for the good of the team. White was dealing with injuries and had become an unreliable tackler. And he was also unhappy with his contract situation having to play out his fifth-year option.

Bucs ILB K.J. Britt and HC Todd Bowles – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

It was tough for Bowles to do that because he loved White, who was a starting linebacker since his rookie season in 2019, like a son. But it was the right call for the team, as the defense improved with Britt’s increased playing time.

Bowles has a couple of new favorites, and it’s no surprise that they are some of the smartest Bucs on the team. Bowles has a very cerebral mind and appreciates the high football I.Q. of inside linebacker SirVocea Dennis and rookie nickelback Tykee Smith.

Although he platoons with Britt at Mike linebacker, Dennis has already cut into Britt’s playing time and is the second-leading tackler with 18 stops – just one behind Whitehead’s 19. Both Britt and Dennis have become the teacher’s pets at One Buc Place in relatively short order.

Bowles isn’t afraid to play rookies. That was evident in 2019 when he played cornerbacks Sean Murphy-Bunting and Jamel Dean and safety Mike Edwards during their rookie season. The next year he started Winfield at free safety against Drew Brees in New Orleans in Week 1.

With his son Troy, a linebacker that won a high school state championship for Jesuit in Tampa, playing at Georgia in Kirby Smart’s defense, Bowles has had a keen eye on the Bulldogs program for quite a while. He liked both of Georgia’s safeties, Tykee Smith and Javon Bullard, but favored Smith more due to his high football I.Q. and drafted him in the third round.

Bowles wasted no time in starting Smith as his nickelback during the offseason. Even though Smith missed two practices last Thursday and Friday due to the flu last week Bowles didn’t hesitate to start him in Detroit on Sunday.

Bucs QB Baker Mayfield and HC Todd Bowles – Photo by: USA Today

That just doesn’t happen, folks. Bowles is a big believer in practice and if a player doesn’t practice for most of the week he typically doesn’t play on Sunday. Bowles will make exceptions for veteran starters, but the fact that he opted to go with Smith instead of veteran reserve Tavierre Thomas was quite the exception and speaks to the trust he has in the rookie.

The final Bowles fave that I’ll mention might surprise you, and it comes on the offensive side of the ball. Make no mistake, Bowles loves and appreciates hard-working guys like Baker Mayfield, Mike Evans, Chris Godwin and Tristan Wirfs, who are leaders and some of the best players on the team.

But Bowles has a very strong affection for backup quarterback Kyle Trask, too.

“Since he’s been here, every time I look out my window, he’s out there working on his own,” Bowles said in January of 2023. “He has the greatest resolve and toughness and inner strength almost than any person I’ve seen. A young guy coming out – he prepares every day. When his time comes, he’s going to be ready because I see him working at it every day. He has inner toughness, he has inner strength, and he has the drive and the will to win. If you put that together, given the opportunity, I think he’s going to take advantage of it.”

Trask wound up losing the starting job to Mayfield during the 2023 training camp and remains the Bucs’ backup QB. But on the heels of his best preseason yet, Trask is even more in Bowles’ good graces now.

FAB 5. Behind The Smile Of Todd Bowles

This section of SR’s Fab 5 was previously published on July 19 and is being presented again as encore due to how well it fits with this week’s column – and in case you missed it over the summer.

Admit it. You want to see Todd Bowles show more passion and energy on the sidelines.

You would love to see Bowles erupt the way that Jon Gruden and Bruce Arians did on refs who blew calls that went against the Bucs. Hey, both Gruden and Arians won Super Bowls in Tampa Bay, so maybe it’s okay to lose your cool and scream a little, right?

Instead, Bowles patrols the sidelines with his arms crossed in a stoic fashion. And instead of screaming, he smiles. And it drives you crazy.

Bucs head coach Todd Bowles – Photo by: USA Today

But on the inside Bowles is screaming.

And passionately yelling.

And energetically erupting.

But only for a millisecond.

Because Bowles is also thinking, and plotting, and planning and scheming for what’s next.

He has to.

“I can get emotional at times,” Bowles said. “I can get frustrated. But I have to come right back. I have to come right back. It’s different. If I get so emotional and panic then I can’t think the game like I want to think the game.

“It’s on the inside … but the smile – for me it’s all about the smile. That smile says 50 different things. It can be, ‘I can’t f*cking believe this!’ It can be, ‘I’m happy.’ It can be ‘You’re full of sh*t, ref!’ It can be an array of things. It’s different for me, but it works for our defense because if I don’t panic, they (the players) never panic and they feel like they always have a chance to win the game.”

Bucs cornerback Zyon McCollum, who is one of Bowles’ favorites (yes, he has favorites), recently said on a Pewter Report Podcast that he’s never seen Bowles panic. So in my recent, hour-long sit-down interview with Bowles, I asked him why he doesn’t panic.

“Because if I panic, they panic,” Bowles said. “And you can’t have that on the sidelines. That goes back to when I was coaching at Grambling. I had a freshman secondary and I yelled and screamed and they got at frazzled and it didn’t do any good. I was like, ‘Aw, shit. I can’t do that.’

Bucs head coach Todd Bowles – Photo by: USA Today

“They go by me. I yell at them all week in practice, but on game day it’s about the next play. It’s about what can you do better? I don’t have five-star players behind [our starters] six deep where I can say, ‘Get ‘em out there! You go in!’ We’ve got everybody for the year. We have to trust each other. They are going to make a mistake. I’m going to make a mistake. But the panic part … okay, what, where, when, why and how can we fix it? That’s all we’re in to right there.”

Not panicking is important. Just look at last year when the Bucs were 4-7 in late November after losing six of seven games at midseason. It looked like Tampa Bay was not going to make the playoffs and that Bowles might get fired.

Instead, Bowles’ calm, steady approach kept a young Bucs team focused and together. In my 29 years of covering the Bucs, I had seen Tampa Bay teams come apart at the seams as a season spirals out of control during the Raheem Morris, Greg Schiano and Lovie Smith years. Even a couple of years during Gruden’s tenure.

But last year’s Bowles team never came unraveled, and that was the key to winning five of its last six games and finishing 9-8 and winning a third straight NFC South title.

“We were [4-7] but the games we lost were due to stupidity,” Bowles said. “The Houston game and the Atlanta game came down to the last two minutes. We didn’t execute what we needed to execute, and we had a lot of growing pains last year. We had a lot of young guys. But we knew down the stretch we’d have a shot, and we were right there. Once they got their experience and everybody calmed down we played and they came out the other side.”

With his job on the line, Bowles and Tampa Bay had to win at Carolina in Week 18 to finish 9-8 and avoid a losing season. The Bucs defense responded with a shutout for their leader in a 9-0 victory. Bowles never panicked against the Panthers, even as his offense struggled mightily with a wounded Baker Mayfield under center.

Bucs head coach Todd Bowles – Photo by: USA Today

“That’s life – you can’t worry about it,” Bowles said. “We were in the driver’s seat towards the end of the season, late in the season, and we had to win one of two games. Obviously, you want to win the first one to get in, but we didn’t win the first one. So that was a desperation game for us, but it’s kind of like that every week – Week 1, Week 6, Week 7, Week 10, Week 12 – they’re all important. You want to get off to a fast start at the beginning, it’s better to be lucky than be good. In the middle, you better be prepared to play with your backups because there are going to be a lot of people hurt. In the end, you’ve got to be able to see the finish line and you’ve got to be focused on it. Everybody has to be on the same page and you have to be go in there and get it.

“It varies every year. If you start fast, it means nothing if you don’t finish. If you start slow, and you finish fast, that’s great. But you want to maintain a steady balance. They are big wins because they happen that week and then you have to move on. They’re all big games when you win them or when you lose them. It’s about how you lose them and what you can take away from them the next week. It’s even more so when you win and what you can take from that.”

In his first two years as the Bucs head coach, Bowles won a division championship with a very old, aging team in 2022 and then again with a very young squad in 2023. In 2024, Bowles will be coaching with his third different offensive coordinator. Bowles isn’t panicking, and he believes that the Bucs have actually leveled up with Liam Coen calling the offensive plays this year.

Bowles heads into 2024 with raised expectations after the Bucs advanced to the NFC Divisional playoffs last year. He’s smiles as he talks about the upcoming season because he really likes his group of young Buccaneers. I mean, really likes this team.

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

“It’s the NFL – you’re not playing any Division III teams,” Bowles said. “You are playing someone every week that is going to have a 4.3 or 4.4 receiver, that is going to have a great defensive line, that is going to have a quarterback that can either throw or run, they are going to have weapons that you’re going to have to stop, and linebackers that are coming. So how well can you do your job? That’s what we try to stress. How well can we do our job and trust the guy next to us?

“Then it’s how well do you know the scheme? If the answer is ‘Not enough,’ then we’ll cut it back for you. If you can handle it, then we’ll give you some more. We kind of go that way. We feel like we have a very good group. They are very tough-minded. It’s a mental game. It’s a very mental game. They are mentally tough. We understand the road ahead of us and we’re excited for it.”

Bowles hopes that when you see him smiling on the sidelines this year it’s the good, happy kind of smile that comes from a defensive masterpiece of a game plan like the kind that occurred in big wins against Green Bay, Jacksonville, Carolina and Philadelphia down the stretch.

But if the Bucs are in the heat of battle and things are looking grim, understand that there is more than meets the eye when it comes to Bowles’ smile.

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