Should Josh Grizzard start watching his back?

If the Bucs lose tomorrow, the immediate future of Todd Bowles, his staff and several players is very much up in the air.

“This Joe” finally watched Episodes 3 and 4 of “Raise the Flags” and a couple of things jumped out.

* The idea that some folks have that Malcolm Glazer called every shot the Bucs made from the day he first purchased the Bucs until he became too ill to run the day-to-day operations of the Bucs is at best misguided and at worst naïve.

* The notion some folks have that Team Glazer doesn’t really care about the team and that winning isn’t a priority, well, those same folks are sadly mistaken.

* When expectations with the Bucs are not met, especially high expectations, someone will walk the plank as a result.

Now “this Joe” believes Bowles likely is coaching for his job tomorrow. Even if the Bucs make the playoffs, “this Joe” isn’t 100 percent sure Bowles will be forced to pay the price of such a monumental collapse.

(“Should” and “will” are two very different things. And please remember, Joe’s last name is not “Glazer.”)

In Episode 3 of “Raise the Flags,” Joe was struck by a comment from Bucs’ co-chairman Bryan Glazer. He spoke about Sam Wyche crowing in 1995 that the Bucs were “5-dash-2.” Glazer said, “And then the season turned to crap.” The Bucs finished 7-9. Glazer added, “At the end of the year, we had to fire Sam Wyche.”

Well, the Bucs this season started 6-dash-2 and the season has turned to crap and, at best, the Bucs will finish 8-9, perhaps 7-10. Joe isn’t sure the Bucs had as high of expectations 30 years ago as they did entering this season.

Again, it is clear from the phenomenal documentary of the history of the Bucs that since Team Glazer became stewards of the franchise, when high expectations are not met, someone has their head lopped off.

Over the holidays, ESPN insider Jeremy Fowler noted that if the Bucs miss the playoffs after starting 6-2, “someone will have to pay.” The speculation centered around Bowles. However, Fowler added, could it be Bucs offensive coordinator Josh Grizzard instead of Bowles as the sacrificial lamb.

Apparently, chatter behind the scenes among NFL team shot-callers is looking at Grizzard as the man who may sleep with the fishes.

There is talk in some league circles about the future of Bucs offensive coordinator Josh Grizzard. The offense has tanked of late, and Baker Mayfield has regressed in the second half of the season. Some level of change is needed after this year’s late-season collapse, which is at least somewhat injury-driven. The Bucs are playing with third-string offensive guards, and the running game hasn’t been quite the same. Grizzard is well respected and helped former coordinator Liam Coen with game-planning last season, but the Bucs’ offense can’t stop the slide.

Well, whoever it was that believed the Bucs could get by with “third-string guards” should have some ‘splainin’ to do for that. Why was a move not made at the trade deadline to bolster the injured offensive line?

It’s difficult for Joe to believe a decent second-string guard on the final year of his contract couldn’t have been rented out. That he would have cost so many coveted third-day draft picks that his ransom was unbearable.

One key to all of this is how badly Baker Mayfield’s injuries hurt the offense. Was he injured so badly that he couldn’t throw — is that why the past six weeks Grizzard transitioned the Bucs into a pee wee football passing attack?

And if Mayfield was hurt that badly that he couldn’t throw or at least throw accurately, then why was he even on the field? Very important games the Bucs needed to win to secure the NFC South were lost by one score because Mayfield was throwing fourth-quarter picks.

Did someone with the Bucs decide the team was better off sacrificing wins just so Mayfield could protect his tough guy image and stay on the field? Does the team not trust Teddy Bridgewater? And if not, then why is Bridgewater eating up a roster spot?

Seems as if Team Glazer will have to find answers to a lot of questions in the next few days if they haven’t found the answers (and solutions) already.