Among the many things that went wrong for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 9's loss to the Houston Texans, Todd Bowles' clock management is once again under fire.
Basically everything that was done on Sunday is under fire from an angry fan base that is beyond frustrated. The Bucs have lost four straight games coming out of their bye week, and it's almost comical how the team figures out new ways to lose.
On Sunday, the offense finally woke up and scored a season-high 37-points but the defense collapsed in the final 0:40 seconds to cough up the win. Prior to C.J. Stroud pulling off an incredible 75-yard game-winning touchdown drive, the way the Bucs managed the clock was called into quesiton and has since become a major sticking point when re-assessing what happened.
Todd Bowles explains bizarre clock management at end of Week 9 loss
With 0:49 seconds left, Trey Palmer caught a pass that he promptly fumbled inside of the Texans 30-yard line. While a Houston player seemed to grab the ball, Mike Evans ripped it out of his hands and the Bucs maintainted possession.
A lot happened on the play, and officials stopped the game to review things and make sure the Bucs indeed had possession of the ball. After confirming the ruling, officials announced that the stoppage would result in a 10-second runoff -- something the Bucs used their final timeout to avoid.
Tampa Bay scored on the very next play, but had that timeout not been called there's a chance the Texans get the ball back with significantly less time to mount a comeback drive.
On Monday, Bowles addressed the controversial timeout and explained that in hindsight it was a mistake that shouldn't have been made.
Asked about choosing to take a time out instead of 10-second runoff, Bowles said the Bucs hadn't scored yet and wanted more time for offense. Had they known they'd score on the next play, they wouldn't, but that's hindsight.
— Greg Auman (@gregauman) November 6, 2023
To be fair, the decision aged much worse than it initially appeared. Despite scoring a season-high in points, the Bucs offense had slowed down in the second half and Bowles was simply trying to make sure he didn't manage the clock in a way where time ran out on the offense.
Given how poorly the clock was managed in Buffalo, it's hard to fault him.
Bowles admitted it was a mistake in hindsight, which is really all Bucs fans can ask for. There's no going back and changing things, and had he not called the timeout and the Bucs failed to score he'd be getting buried all the same.