Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Todd Bowles delivered expletive-laden rants inside the locker room and during a postgame news conference after his team fell to 7-7 via a 29-28 loss to the lowly Atlanta Falcons (5-9) on Dec. 11.
While speaking with reporters on Wednesday, Bowles insisted that his players understood what he was trying to achieve.
Buccaneers “got the message” after Todd Bowles rants
“They got the message,” Bowles said about his team, per Rob Maaddi of The Associated Press. “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.”
A big reason the Buccaneers are “fine” is that the Carolina Panthers suffered a 20-17 loss at the New Orleans Saints (4-10) that dropped Carolina to 7-7 on Dec. 14. In Week 16, the Buccaneers will play at the Panthers with first place in the NFC South on the line.
Tampa Bay will then host Carolina in Week 18.
“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.”
Baker Mayfield addresses Buccaneers’ culture
A Wednesday report claimed that “part of Bowles’ frustration that spilled over last week is related to the lack of total buy-in on parts of the 53-man roster.” ESPN NFL insider Jeremy Fowler added that some younger Buccaneers players “are still learning how to be pros with an edge and killer instinct and need to shed the ‘happy to be here’ mentality.”
On Wednesday, quarterback Baker Mayfield suggested the Buccaneers have the type of leadership needed to ensure everybody buys in this week.
“The finger pointing (is) only happening if you have bad culture in the building,” Mayfield explained. “That’s not a problem we have to deal with. 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.”
As of Thursday morning, DraftKings Sportsbook had the Buccaneers as three-point favorites for their upcoming matchup at the Panthers.
