Todd Bowles Focused on Sustaining Success | Press Conference | Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Todd Bowles Focused on Sustaining Success | Press Conference | Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Afternoon. Afternoon. How pleased are you with your third down defense this year? That’s kind of been a recurring trend over the last three games as you guys have done a good job getting off the field on third downs, forcing some punts. Uh, right now we’ve been doing a good job staying out of third and short. So, it plays to our advantage. The guys been doing a good job executing on tape and they carry it to the field. How’s it looking for Chris Godwin this week, coaching? He did a lot more things this week and practiced a lot better. It’s just going to be a matter of him healing up and seeing what he can do in the ball game if he plays. But he had a good day today. If he plays, coach, would it be like a pitch count for him in terms of, you know, hadn’t had training camp couple weeks of practice? Uh, hadn’t been discussed yet, but you know, if it’s warm and we got to see how he goes. It kind of plays along with it if he gets out there. How about for Tristan Worse? Uh, he did some things today as well. We got to ramp them up a little more. And I think both of them will be end of the week evaluations. Yeah. How much will like like on Saturday for instance, obviously with the accumulation of a full week of practice kind of going more, you know, full boore, how much will Saturday kind of play a role just in in determining kind of, I guess, level of soreness, level of swelling, things like that? Uh, Saturday and Sunday play a big role. We got to see how they react toward the end of the week. That’s why everything is on hold right now. How was Desmond Watson today? He was good, you know. He was good. He was out there. He gives us a heck of a look. So, I was trying to imitate Jordan Davis, but he he was good. Is there any chance he could be uh elevated off the practice squad for this game? No. Todd, you’ve had a lot of success against Jaylen Herz. Not many other teams in the league have. What are you seeing different on tape from the Eagles from the last time you guys played them? Man, they won the Super Bowl. They got a lot of talent. You know, last year I think they had a couple guys out. We did too, but they weren’t at full strength. We weren’t at full strength, but they play with a lot of confidence. They’re skilled at every position on both sides of the football and they understand how to win. You know, that that’s that’s huge in this league. If you understand how to win and you expect to win, uh, they do a very good job at that. And Serriani has done a very good job getting them guys prepared every week. Todd, one of those guys they haven’t had the last two times that they’ve played you is AJ Brown. Can you just speak to the dynamic playmaking ability that he brings to their passing game? Big play receiver. He’s big, he’s strong, he’s fast, and he’s smart. You know, he has very strong hands, and you can be draped all over him. He can still make the catch. So, we got our work cut out for us. Todd, you’re one of only six teams that uh haven’t lost a game yet. Uh but is there a feeling for you inside this building from a coaching standpoint that man we we got to play better, you know, maybe even a lot better uh going forward? You always got to play better and you want to play better as the season goes along. You never apologize for winning ball games, so we don’t do that at all, but we know we got things to clean up and it’s the start of the season. It’s supposed to, but we give ourselves about four or five weeks where we need to clean up the things we need to clean up and we got to play better. What are your concerns on special teams? No, we just can’t have any negative plays and we can’t have any mishaps. That’ll be the biggest thing. It’s always next man up for you guys and you guys have done that exceptionally well. But having a personal connection with a guy like Mike Evans who when you guys helped him get the record. I mean, it was such an emotional celebration for this team last year. What was your reaction on a human level to hearing that Mike would be out for multiple games? I mean, it hurts. Anytime your stars go out, it’s going to hurt. you know, no different than Tristan and Chris when they were out and and they’re just coming back. But he’s a big part of our offense. He actually everything goes through him. So, we got to adjust and we’ve been adjusting all year and we’ll adjust this week. Every year is different, right? We’ve gotten off to good starts before, three and one. They haven’t been three and 0 yet, but um injuries play a role, all that. But what do you think would be different about this team and schedule as part of that to avoid sort of that that midseason or premidseason slump that you’ve gone through last year? That remains to be seen, but most of it is just maturity level. You know, again, the injuries and everything else play a part and it and it’s tough to win in this ball club, in this league. I mean, everybody’s going to get better as the weeks go on and kind of pin down what they do best and what they can do best and they get more film on you and they get to see you a little bit more. So, our focus has got to be there each and every week. And, you know, the healthier we are, the better we are as with everybody else. With no preseason, does it seem more true that got to get about a month into the season before you really fit finding the identity of all these teams? That’s how we see it all the time. Go back to Sunday. You’re really good sometimes at explaining the thought process on decisions and you guys had that fourth and one late where you lined up trying to draw them off sides and didn’t um and then let the clock run out rather than take a penalty which made the field goal five yards longer. Just curious about that decision. Uh Chase is better between the 40 and the 50 than he is between the 30s. Todd, you’ve been pretty successful against the tush push in your time here. Is there any way that you can replicate it or practice it or is it just come game day, you know, you go over it during the week and you just have to execute it? You can’t I mean, you just have to execute it. You can line it up and you can try to get guys low and do everything you can possibly do, but you can’t replicate their line, their quarterback, and how they do it. So you got to line up and it’s got to be a group effort and you got to time it and get off the ball at the right time and you got to be stronger and better and that doesn’t guarantee you anything either. So you know saying we had more success in it than everybody else. We probably talking about 3%. You’re not saying it’s 50 60 70 80% they do a good job at it and we just have to find a way if it comes to that to try to make a play. What you just said about Chase, how how heavily did were you leaning on analytics for that? At what point did you kind of make that decision? I kind of knew that. What What does Godwin do you aside from a tactical standpoint, but just his presence, right? This is a guy that’s been, you know, everything for this team. He’s come back a couple times from injuries, but obviously you don’t have Mike. You’d like to have them all, but just what does he bring to your team? Beyond just the X’s and he’s one of our mentally toughest players. When you see him out there doing all the little things from blocking the route running to catching and running with the football, his competitive level is so high and his mental intelligence is so high. It just keeps everybody up even if other people are down. So, it’s good to see him out there. Your stance on the tush push has kind of made you a hero in Philly. You played there. You coached. I think I’m a hero. I understand that mentality where opposing fans actually like you for that state. I think the only place I might be a hero at is Ishka Bibbles down on South Street and getting the cheese steak. Other than that, some business. Other than that, uh, it’s it’s, you know, it’s it’s a good play. It’s a creative play for them and we got to get better as defensive coaches trying to be creative to stop it. How is Chris Godwin looked out there in terms of his route running, being able to to cut and snap off routes on that surgically repaired ankle? Oh, he’s doing all that. He looks good. It’s just a matter of getting tangled up and getting those type of things and guys cutting them or tackling one’s legs. You can’t simulate those type of things. So, those would be things that we’re looking at. You know, so many teams key in on Mike Evans, right? And so, a Mecca like we saw in that touchdown in Atlanta, you know, he he wasn’t getting doubled and he didn’t occupy the attention of Jesse Bates, right? So, he was he was able to get that touchdown. But with Mike out, how does that kind of change how teams, you know, approach you guys and and does the AMCA have to worry about suddenly being the guy where he’s getting a bunch of attention like that? I think he started worrying about that after the first game, but we can’t tell how people are going to play us. We’re going to have to adjust on the run and anticipate some things and see them for the first time and have plays to counter that. Todd, the Eagles have decided to come in 24 hours early to both get ready for the Heat. Not sure how that works, but um last week was tough for both teams. Do you do you sense that you guys have some u some processes that make this an advantage for you when it’s this hot? Clearly, it’s already in their head for this week. I don’t know if it’s an advantage. It’s you get mentally tougher. No different than playing in the cold. If you’re playing in 10 degree weather, you got to mentally prepare yourself for three or four hours. When you playing in the heat, you got to mentally prepare yourself for three or four hours. So, I don’t I don’t know if it’s an advantage or disadvantage, and whoever holds the ball longer, the other team probably going to struggle. Todd, two points on offense. Would you like to see um some more targets for the tight ends as a group? And would you like to see more carries for Rashad um going forward? I would like to see us continue to hit the open guy. If that’s a tight end, great. If not, I’m happy with the results there. Um, obviously Rashad did a good job the first time around and sometimes the game dictates the carries in the situations, but you always want to see him get splitting carries that way if you can afford to, but it’s not etched in stone that it’ll go that way. Todd, to that point, how good has Josh been at just working around all these injuries, the switches on the offensive line, trying to chip for tight ends? I mean, how how would you rate how Josh is doing handling all the injuries and coaching around? I think he’s done a great job his first time out signing up for it. I think he’s dealt with more injuries than Liam and uh Dave has dealt with when they were here. So, just adjusting things and making sure we can run efficiently with all the guys out and still trying to create ways to score. I think he’s done a very good job. Todd, uh Co was put on IR. You have an update on the the severity of of Co’s injury and just, you know, what does his loss mean? What did he do for this team when he was out there? Yeah, go on. I already he broke his leg. Um he was probably our toughest player, one of our toughest three players on the team because he was our tone setter offensively. He did a lot of things uh in the room from a blocking standpoint. So that we have to try and run the ball different ways without him. So that that was a huge loss for us. Is that a season ending injury? Yes. Is there anybody that takes his spot specifically or just got to do things differently? Got to do things differently. Todd, as as a player, former player, and now a coach, you’ve seen dozens of games where a team had a big lead, you know, going into the fourth quarter, and then there’s a let down on defense. Um, is that a mentality thing and they’re looking at the clock to, you know, the clock’s going to run out? What goes on uh in those circumstances? No, I don’t think it was a let down at all. I thought we gave up two first downs that we could have got off the field on. the longer you’re on the field uh with the heat with that temperature the way it was and still not used to playing a bunch of plays yet. I thought a couple guys got a little bit tired and I thought it wore down and you know it kind of went down the field. That can’t happen. Uh-huh.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers Head Coach Todd Bowles spoke to the media after Wednesday’s Week 4 practice. HC Bowles discussed bringing in NT Desmond Watson, getting ready to face the Philadelphia Eagles and evaluating T Tristan Wirfs & WR Chris Godwin Jr. at the end of the week.

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