Heat from national scribes now on.
It was not lost on Joe that the sweatshirt Bucs coach Todd Bowles wore on the sidelines yesterday was emblazoned with one of the NFL’s catchphrases, “Inspire Change.”
That’s what Bucs fans have been hollering for loudly the past month.
Bowles has never been a popular coach with fans — not since the Super Bowl when he was the team’s defensive coordinator, not when he became head coach, not when the Bucs were winning and regularly making postseason appearances and capturing divisions.
And he sure as hell is not popular now that the Bucs have lost seven of their last nine games, going from a chokehold on the NFC South to second place and looking like they are headed for third.
Much of what is wrong with the team is the defense. And guess who the defensive coordinator is? None other than the head coach, Bowles.
Fans are absolutely howling for Bowles’ head.
Joe maintains Bowles is easily the most reviled Bucs coach since this here website launched in August 2008. And the weekly Bowles’ confidence poll Joe runs weekly shows that 90 percent of voters either have little confidence or no confidence in Bowles.
No Bucs coach has had that many negative votes, not even Dirk Koetter or Lovie Smith in their final days.
And now it seems national scribes who focus solely on the NFL are picking up the whiff. Conor Orr of SI.com typed a piece last night saying “clear” changes are needed with the Bucs.
The most logical leap is to change … something. In this particular case, turning over the head coaching position and bringing in a replacement for Bowles will be the solution that everyone points to because, in the absence of a thorough postmortem, we tend to blame dropoff or a lack of big-game energy on the person sitting in that chair. Bowles is 34–32 in four seasons and 1–3 in the playoffs, with the lone victory being the game that put the collapsing Eagles out of their misery in 2023. But Bowles folds neatly into the modern debate about Mike Tomlin during the past half decade, where there is a standard other lost fan bases would crave, especially considering that this has been a team in transition for three years now.
Well, there is a reason why the head coach makes the big bucks. He is responsible for his team. Both sides of the ball.
Joe is still triggered that with 10 days to hatch a gameplan, Bucs offensive coordinator Josh Grizzard (and his gameplan was really offensive yesterday) — a Yale man no less — thought ignoring his loaded and healthy receiver group and running repeatedly behind two awful backup guards was the wise way to go.
Either Baker Mayfield is so hurt he cannot function at near 100 percent or the team has lost trust in him. Which is it? How else to explain what the Bucs were trying to accomplish yesterday? Or was Bowles terrified to put his sour defense on the field more than absolutely necessary?
Emeka Egbuka’s 40-yard catch late in the game was the longest for a receiver next to Chris Godwin’s 13-yard catch.
All those talented receivers and only four passes completed for over 10 yards? That is so grossly irresponsible and a shameful waste of talent.
And the defense. Hoo, boy! It’s been sub-optimal for years now. This season, it is a full-blown disaster. Bowles often says he doesn’t care about an edge rush. Well, that’s what he got, little to no edge rush. Careful what you wish for — or don’t wish for.
(Joe fielded a Bucs fan Twitter yesterday during the game saying he trusted himself to pass gas while afflicted with diarrhea more than he trusted the Bucs defense to hold a lead.)
The Bucs were marred, maybe sunk, by dumb plays, especially penalties. Where was Luke Goedeke’s head? Goodness, in such an important game!
Backup linebacker John Bullock head-butting a guy on a critical game-on-the-line kick return? The guy should have had to pay for his flight back to Tampa — as an ex-Bucs player. Is he that gifted that he’s untouchable after he directly hurt the Bucs’ chances of winning and returning to the playoffs? If he really was that gifted, he would have easily replaced SirVocea Dennis by now.
Bucs players like to talk accountability in the locker room, especially last week. Bull! What would Warren Sapp do if this Bullock pulled that stunt in the same circumstances when Sapp played? Sapp would have probably punched him.
What would Tom Brady have done with Bullock? After he finished screaming at him for maybe 20 minutes, Brady would have stomped straight to Jason Licht’s office and ordered Licht to cut him. Brady basically did the same thing with receiver Justin Watson for the crime of allowing two pick-sixes. Buh-bye.
Everyone at One Buc Palace talks a good game about accountability. Where are the actions?
Until someone has to pay a price for his sins, why should anyone believe Bucs players will all of a sudden start going to Confession?
This team is a mess! Joe fears flights have already been booked for the DR two weeks from tomorrow after players clean out their lockers and give exit interviews.
(Conor: Joe is not trying to throw shade at you. Your name appears in headlines for clarity.)