Joe’s heard the one-score game narrative for years.
It’s usually framed as a reason to believe a losing NFL team is close to getting over the proverbial hump.
It’s almost foolish. Most NFL games are decided by one score. Losing one-score games is no reason for optimism. It’s better than getting your doors blown off, but playing it close and losing makes you, well, a loser.
Jorge Diaz, the former Bucs starting guard (1996-1999), thinks keeping games close is a big reason Todd Bowles is still the Bucs’ head coach, so he told The Rock Riley Show on WDAE radio today.
Riley asked Diaz why he thinks the Bucs retained Bowles after firing several key assistant coaches.
In addition to saying he thinks Team Glazer likes the team culture and the overall Bowles way, Diaz pointed to the tight games.
“The team never stopped competing and if you look at the margin of loss, it wasn’t like this team was getting blown out,” Diaz said. ” … So it was really interesting when you look at the big picture.”
Diaz also thinks Bowles agreed with Team Glazer and the front office that significant coaching changes were needed, so their unified approach is intact.
Did the 2025 Bucs morph into the Father Dungy Bucs of the late 1990s? Diaz went there. He noted the Bucs’ approach late in the season became “keep it close and pull away late,” except the Bucs did have enough offense for that strategy to succeed.
Diaz said Bucs struggles were tied to the many offensive line injuries but he wouldn’t give the team a pass. The O-line “is a beautiful dance by five large me,” Diaz said, “and that is hard to do when you’re mixing and matching every week. … but you can’t make any excuses.”
Diaz also praised the “amazing job” of Graham Barton at left tackle in place of Tristan Wirfs in Weeks 1 through 3, and he added that undisciplined play and Emeka Egbuka’s dropoff were major factors in the second half of the season.
It wasn’t just offense, Diaz said, noting the Bucs’ defensive collapse in Buffalo and poor special teams play overall.