{"id":818736,"date":"2026-03-18T08:05:51","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T08:05:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/818736\/"},"modified":"2026-03-18T08:05:51","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T08:05:51","slug":"ko-kieft-defends-todd-bowles-joebucsfan-com","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/818736\/","title":{"rendered":"Ko Kieft Defends Todd Bowles – JoeBucsFan.com"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Says animated coach not needed.<\/p>\n

Joe doesn\u2019t think it is a stretch to suggest the vast majority of Bucs fans look forward to one thing before they can enjoy Bucs games again.<\/p>\n

That would be when Bucs coach Todd Bowles has to clean out his office.<\/p>\n

Bowles, wildly unpopular with the rank and file Bucs fans, takes all sorts of potshots from fans who can\u2019t wait for the Bowles era of Bucs football to come to an end.<\/p>\n

Most of these gripes, Joe admits, are valid. However, perhaps the most commonly-heard critique of Bowles, well, Joe thinks is complete BS.<\/p>\n

Basically, fans want a cartoon character on the sidelines. You know, like the Tasmanian Devil<\/a>. Think Chucky. Never mind, Chucky demonstrates almost daily he\u2019s stuck in the 1990s when it comes to offense \u2014 but, by golly, he gets fired up<\/a>!<\/p>\n

For most NFL fans, the NFL is a TV show. Entertainment! Drama! Suspense! Without juice, you basically have Booknotes with Brian Lamb.<\/p>\n

And you know what? One reason Joe became a fan of Indiana basketball was because of Bobby Knight. Dude was completely Fruit Loops on the bench. Had no idea what he was going to do or what he was going to say but you knew you\u2019d be entertained, in a WWE\/Frank the Tank kind of way.<\/p>\n

Anyone can act the fool but very, very few people could or did out-coach Knight. Behind that nutso personality and frustrated comedian front lay a basketball genius.<\/p>\n

But at the end of the day, it doesn\u2019t matter if a coach is dancing with himself on the sideline or has the charisma of a utility pole. It\u2019s what the guy does in practices and his constant in-game decisions and talent evaluation are what make a coach.<\/p>\n

Some of the greatest coaches in NFL history had the personality of a stale loaf of bread. Paul Brown, Tom Landry, Chuck Noll, Mike Shanahan \u2026 Joe could go on. Defending Super Bowl champion Mike Macdonald isn\u2019t exactly doing cartwheels during games. He wins.<\/p>\n

Appearing on the \u201cPat and Aaron Show\u201d heard on WDAE-AM 620\/WDAE-FM 95.7 yesterday, newly re-signed Bucs tight end Ko Kieft pretty much echoed a famous Bill Parcells line: If players need a coach to motivate them, they\u2019re in the wrong business<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think \u2014 dude, if you don\u2019t have enough fire as a player yourself, if you need a coach to come and hype you up before every game, before every practice, to fire you up, I don\u2019t think you should be in the NFL,\u201d Kieft said.<\/p>\n

Joe has heard it from many assistants, past and present, and with players that Bowles\u2019 even keel demeanor is actually a good thing. Sometimes, an extrovert coach who constantly hollers and yells, the message grows thin and who knows what may or may not set him off, and when.<\/p>\n

Now to be fair to Kieft, does anyone expect Kieft, fresh off a new contract, to get on a blowtorch AM and FM signal that can be heard up and down the west coast of the east coast and trash his head coach? Of course not.<\/p>\n

Again, Joe understands why folks want a cartoon character on the sidelines. But as far as Joe is concerned, a guy\u2019s personality doesn\u2019t amount to a hill of beans whether he can coach or not.<\/p>\n

Sure, watching Bucco Bruce Arians tear into people and cuss up a storm and run on the field and slap a player in the helmet or get into a hassle with currently unemployed clown Marshon Lattimore was fun to watch. At the end of the day, Arians knew what he was doing with X\u2019s and O\u2019s better than most.<\/p>\n

No one outside of Chucky hollered and screamed like former Bucs commander Greg Schiano. How\u2019d that work out? Raheem Morris would chestbump defensive dudes coming off the field after allowing a field goal. That didn\u2019t work out so well, did it?<\/p>\n

There are many valid reasons for Bucs fans to be upset with Bowles. We could sit at Hooters <\/a>all afternoon and list them. The fact he\u2019s not a maniac on the sidelines isn\u2019t one of them.<\/p>\n

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