‘Clueless and Checked Out,’ ‘Hilarious How Unqualified This Guy Is’ — Buccaneers Fans Torch Todd Bowles After HC’s Concerning Comments
· Yahoo Sports
Todd Bowles has spent two weeks watching opposing tight ends find room in his defense. On Wednesday, he sounded like he’d been watching a different tape.
Asked about the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ problems covering the position, Bowles pushed back on the premise, a move that did not go over especially well with a fan base already getting to grips with an 0-2 start.
Visit sportbet.rodeo for more information.
Buccaneers HC Todd Bowles Pushes Back on Tight End Concerns
“I don’t think we struggled against it this past weekend,”Bowles said. “I mean, the first week, I thought we missed two zone drops, and this week we busted a coverage, and they caught one pass.”
However, the numbers make that answer difficult to square. Cleveland Browns tight end Harold Fannin Jr. caught five passes for 54 yards Sunday, while Blake Whiteheart added a 17-yard touchdown. A week earlier, Cincinnati Bengals tight end Mike Gesicki caught five passes for 78 yards and a score.
Opposing tight ends have caught 15 passes for 172 yards and two touchdowns through two games.
Fans noticed the disconnect immediately.
PREDICT THE NFL SEASON:PFN’s Free NFL Playoff Predictor
“This dude is clueless and checked out,”one fan wrote.
Anotherfan added, “I’m concerned that no one’s been concerned about Bowles until now.”
One user mocked him, saying, “Oh my God, the jokes write themselves.”
One reaction was even more direct: “Hilarious how unqualified this guy is,” the fan wrote.
The criticism kept coming. “He’s clearly not a bright guy, unfortunately,” anotherfan wrote.
SET YOUR LINEUPS:PFN’s Free Fantasy Start/Sit Optimizer
A fifth reaction focused on Bowles apparently overlooking Fannin’s production: “Is this coach forgetting who was playing in the game? Please save us fans the misery of watching him coach our team!”one user wrote.
Another fan had a longer list of complaints.
“I said this a lot. Dude isn’t the most ‘tactical’ of coaches. We’ve had a lot of ‘What the [expletive] is he doing?’ moments,” thefan wrote. “A timeout coordinator? lol. Dude is not a good head coach. Just ain’t.”
That criticism is landing a week in, as Bowles’hot-seat pressure is already growing after Tampa Bay’s 23-19 loss to Cleveland.
BE THE GM OF YOUR FAVORITE TEAM:PFN’s Free NFL Mock Draft Simulator
Buccaneers’ Defense Has Been Bang Average
The frustration is not coming from one ugly coverage bust. Tampa Bay is 0-2 after losses to Cincinnati and Cleveland, and the team has allowed 28.0 points per game.
The Buccaneers rank No. 16 in PFN Defense Impact Score through two weeks, with a grade of 75.0. That is essentially league average, which is a long way from the kind of identity Bowles has built his reputation around.
The tight-end issue is only one part of it, but it is an easy one for fans to latch onto when the head coach says he does not see much of a problem and the box score says otherwise.
Bowles can argue about whether two games constitute a trend. But Buccaneers fans are arguing about whether their head coach is seeing the same game they are.
This article originally appeared on Pro Football Network.