Crushed.
Joe saw two things after the game, no words spoken, no questions asked, that sure appeared the Bucs have realized their run of postseason appearances may be coming to an end.
Joe doesn’t remember ever seeing Bucs coach Todd Bowles as crushed as he was today after the game. Joe saw him walk into the locker room as if he was walking into a funeral home.
He looked worse walking through the locker room to the coaches’ locker room after his press conference. Bowles walked slowly, body hunched, head hung low. Bowles appeared to look like a man who just learned his dog had been run over.
Joe has seen and talked with Bowles after some tough losses. Joe never saw him with this kind of depressing body language. It’s almost like he’s out of answers.
Then, Joe was shocked to see another sight, something Joe has never seen and never thought he’d ever see.
Not often do Bucs players bolt out of the locker room before it opens. Sadly, Joe has noticed Antoine Winfield doing this after home losses the past two seasons. Before last year, he never did such a thing. Usually, the guys who bolt out right away are guys you generally don’t want in the locker room to begin with. Slobs like DeSean Jackson and Swaggy Baker for example.
Today, for the very first time, Joe saw Lavonte David walk out of the locker room early. Joe was shocked. Usually, David is always available to discuss the game, bad or good.
This is not a knock on David at all. If anything, Joe thinks David is just fully fed up. And he likely has a hunch he has but four more games left in his fantastic career. Joe is guessing David is depressed, too.
Last week David was pretty outraged how the Bucs struggled against Arizona. The week prior he unloaded on his teammates for playing half-arse football in Los Angeles.
Joe thinks David has had enough and has nothing more to talk about, as if he’s resigned to the Bucs possibly ending up with a losing season.
Seeing Bowles being crushed and David bolting early, well, that’s how bad things are right now for the Bucs.