After a gut-punch 29-28 loss to the Atlanta Falcons that dropped the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to 7-7, head coach Todd Bowles didn’t hold back. Inside the locker room and in his postgame press conference, Bowles let his frustration fly - and it wasn’t exactly PG-rated. But according to Bowles, the message landed exactly where it needed to.
“They got the message,” Bowles said Wednesday when asked about his fiery reaction. **“It’s football, guys.
I don’t know. There have probably been a billion stories written when coaches have lost that got (ticked) off and said something to their guys.
It’s not an issue. We’re fine.”
**
And in a strange twist of NFC South fate, “fine” might just be enough. While Tampa Bay stumbled in Week 14, the Carolina Panthers followed suit with a 20-17 loss to the New Orleans Saints. That dropped Carolina to 7-7 as well, setting the stage for a pivotal Week 16 showdown between the Bucs and Panthers - with first place in the division on the line.
Yes, the division is still wide open, and despite their inconsistencies, the Bucs control their own destiny. They’ll face Carolina again in Week 18, but first, they’ve got to take care of business on the road.
Bowles emphasized that accountability - not finger-pointing - is driving the response this week.
“Accountability could be doing little things right, it could be teammates talking to each other, you’re talking to yourself, coaches talking to each other,” Bowles said. **“We understood the message after the ball game.
We met on it, we talked about it, we got it out of our system. Everybody is hard at work and trying to do the right things to win the ball game.”
**
That message of accountability has echoed throughout the locker room, and quarterback Baker Mayfield has been right in the middle of it. A report earlier this week suggested that part of Bowles’ blow-up was fueled by a lack of full buy-in across the roster - particularly from some younger players still adjusting to the demands of the NFL.
Mayfield, though, isn’t seeing fractures in the locker room. He’s seeing leadership - and ownership.
“The finger pointing (is) only happening if you have bad culture in the building,” Mayfield said. “That’s not a problem we have to deal with.”
He backed that up by taking the heat for the offense’s inability to close out the Falcons.
**“We met on Monday with the offense, and I told them what I said in the postgame press conference. I said it’s on me, it’s on this group.
I expect us to be able to score more than 28 (points) in a situation like that and put the game out of reach. You just nip it in the bud in the beginning.”
**
That kind of leadership - from both the coaching staff and veteran players - is what the Bucs are banking on as they head into the most important stretch of their season. Despite the rollercoaster ride, they’re still in the driver’s seat in the NFC South, and the path to the playoffs is still very much theirs to claim.
As of Thursday morning, oddsmakers had Tampa Bay as a three-point favorite heading into Charlotte. The stakes?
First place in the division. The message?
Loud and clear.