After the Buccaneers blew a big lead on a Thursday night against the Falcons, he let the expletives fly regarding the team’s in-game deficiencies. Recently, Bowles provided a less profane assessment of the factors that doomed the Bucs from turning a 6-2 start into a sixth straight playoff appearance.
Via JoeBucsFan.com, Bowles recently addressed the team’s 2026 prospects in an interview with Sports Day Tampa Bay.
“If we can prepare and we can execute, and we don’t look at the names on people’s helmets, and we can play the same every week and learn how to finish off games and close games out — instead of getting a lead and just taking plays off, or not having a lead and having to come back late,” Bowles said.
While it’s not a direct admission that the team took plays off, the context makes the message clear.
“You just want to play four quarters and you want to go out there,” Bowles added. “And I think we have those types of alpha dogs on our team right now that will make this team to elevate to that. When they start coaching themselves and don’t need too much coaching on the sideline, that’s when you know you’ve arrived.”
The Buccaneers are in one of the weaker divisions in the NFL, but that could be changing. The Panthers are better. The Saints are improving. And the Falcons could be onto something.
Regardless, it’s hard for any NFL team to succeed if they take plays off. And that seems to be one of the things the 2025 Buccaneers did.
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