Todd Bowles gave the weakest postgame quotes about Buccaneers loss to Texans
By Josh Hill
If there was any question that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are in an uncontrollable downward spiral, Sunday's loss to the Houston Texans gave a definitive answer.
Twice the Bucs blew a lead that looked like it should have stuck, and both times fans were dumbfounded over how the team could have allowed such a thing to happen. First, the Bucs allowed a 20-10 lead to become a 30-23 deficit and then promptly capped things off by allowing a 75-yard game-winning touchdown drive with under 0:40 left.
Along the way, the Bucs defense gave up a new single-game passing yards record for a rookie to C.J. Stroud and gave up five touchdowns and 39 points. It was an embarrassing game, one that fans are ready to fire Todd Bowles over even if ownership isn't quite there yet.
With fans already hot under the collar about the job Bowles has done during the four game losing streak, his postgame press conference didn't do much to win him any new converts from a fan base that is ablaze with rage.
Todd Bowles didn't do himself any favors with a weak explanation for Week 9 loss
After the game Bowles spoke very briefly with the media but said a few things that aren't likely to go over well with a very angry fan base. For yet another consecutive week, Bowles mentioned how things that the team did well in practice didn't translate to gameday and contributed to the loss.
He also leaned pretty heavily on Coach Speak when trying to explain what will happen next after such a bad game.
#Bucs coach Todd Bowles after twice blowing the lead and allowing the Texans to go 75 yards in 40 seconds with CJ Stroud throwing his 5th TD pass, a 15-yarder to Tank Dell. “It’s a devastating loss.” Bowles said. pic.twitter.com/4EFyyUeDVh
— Rick Stroud (@NFLSTROUD) November 5, 2023
Todd Bowles on the decision to play zone on that last drive: "If we did what we were supposed to do, we would have been fine playing zone." Rushed with four on each play, did not affect CJ Stroud at all on those, lined up in Cover-2 and Cover-4
— JennaLaineESPN (@JennaLaineESPN) November 5, 2023
Todd Bowles says today’s game was a “devastating loss” and the Bucs should be pissed off all week.
— Scott Smith (@ScottSBucs) November 5, 2023
To be fair, what is Bowles supposed to say?
It's not like Bowles is going to announce at the podium, mere moments after a brutal loss, that some sort of drastic change is going to be made.
What fans seem to be latching onto is frustration over the lack of accountability that these sorts of lame comments suggest. After the loss to Atlanta, Bowles said that the blown coverage on Kyle Pitts that set up a game-winning field goal would be addressed, but when he was pressed the other week about yet another bad game by Ryan Neal he got terse with the reporter who asked the question.
He didn't address his clock management, which was another source of frustration for fans during the game. For the third straight week Bowles left everyone scratching their heads with how he managed the clock heading into halftime, and for the third straight week the Bucs clock management at the end of the game was a source of confusion and frustration.
Bowles carried all of his timeouts into halftime, despite having an opportunity to possibly get the ball back and score more points. He also used a timeout to prevent a runoff with 0:49 left which ended up leaving ten valuable seconds on the clock that Houston used during their game-winning drive.
Almost every major error that swung the game Houston's way was on Bowles, including his defense allowing 39 points and a 75-yard game-winning drive with 0:40 left. Frustration has been rolling to a boil for Bucs fans, and hearing Bowles give these sorts of postgame comments after that kind of a loss isn't going to make many folks happy.
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