Every time Todd Bowles opens his mouth at a press conference, he reminds Tampa Bay Buccaneers fans why they have very little faith in him, and, once again, he failed to show respect to one of his players, criticizing Baker Mayfield for something that shouldn't even be a legitimate point of criticism in public made by an NFL head coach.
Leave it to Bowles to place his foot firmly in his mouth, and you would think that a coach whose players were openly incensed with his terrible coaching after an inexcusable, season-killing loss in primetime would have learned from his mistakes instead of, once again, throwing people under the bus months later.
Mayfield, the Bucs star quarterback, was an MVP candidate in the first half of the season before everything fell apart, and while he did have his own issues in the second stanza of the campaign during the horrendous collapse, he was also forced into playing Hero Ball by the defense.
Todd Bowles criticizes Baker Mayfield for his defense's ills
And Mayfield trying to put the team on his back led to him getting hurt, which, apparently, Bowles thinks is actually Mayfield's fault and decided to take the quarterback to task at the NFL Scouting Combine for it.
Bowles said of Mayfield, via Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times, “I don't want to say it's sustainable. I think that's who he is. He's got to be smarter than that, especially in the second half of the season, when you get guys down. So he's got to be a little smarter taking care of his body, so we can have the availability there, but being with us three years now, we know who he is. We trust him completely, and we have full confidence in him.”
While it's wonderful that Bowles has full faith and confidence in Mayfeld, it feels like a half-hearted attempt to just stick the obvious at the end and make it look like Bowles isn't saying something completely ridiculous in a public forum about his quarterback.
But Buccaneers fans see through what Bowles is doing here, and everyone knows that the real problem is Bowles's defense. That is the elephant in the room. If the defense wasn't so terrible, Mayfield wouldn't have to take risks with his body and feel so much pressure to be perfect and take those damaging chances. If the defense could hold a lead or not get torched, Mayfield could have taken it easier. That defense is what needs to change, and it's on Bowles.