After the team’s embarrassing loss to the San Francisco 49ers, Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Todd Bowles did not want to hear about potentially ruining Tom Brady’s return to the Bay Area. Brady grew up in nearby San Mateo, California and had a large contingent of family members in the stands for the Buccaneers-49ers matchup.
Following the Bucs’ blowout defeat, Bowles was asked if he had disappointment in Brady’s homecoming ending on a sour note. Bowles had no time for apologies to Brady, making it clear that “we don’t play the game for one guy.”
“You feel bad about the team. We don’t play the game for one guy, regardless of who it is,” Bowles remarked during his December 11, 2022 postgame press conference. “We don’t play this game or coach it for one guy. We play it as a team.
“We got to block for him. We got to play defense for him. He’s got to throw the ball for us. It’s a team effort when we win. It’s a team effort when we lose and today was a complete team effort of losing, getting our a**** kicked.”
Brady: 49ers ‘Kicked Our A**’
As for Brady, the Tampa Bay quarterback appeared to run out of answers as to why the team has been so inconsistent this season. Brady admitted that the Niners “kicked our a**” as the team’s offense struggled to mount drives scoring just seven points.
“Look, that’s the NFL, you play a really tough game,” Brady told reporters on December 11. “You play a tough team on the road. They’re physical, they’re tough. They kicked our a**. That’s the reality of this sport.
“Every time you take the field you have the opportunity to get your a** kicked or to kick a**. Obviously, we were on the wrong end of it today, but you got to put the work in and you gotta dig deep and keep fighting.”
Bowles on Blowout Loss: ‘We Got Outcoached’
Bowles has received plenty of criticism for the Buccaneers’ woes this season, but Tampa Bay is unlikely to make a change this offseason. The Bucs signed Bowles to a five-year contract last offseason, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter. This makes it financially challenging for Tampa Bay to move on from Bowles after just one season, even if the team fails to turn things around. Following the Bucs’ blowout loss to the Niners, Bowles admitted that the team was “outreached,” an admission that he has made on multiple occasions throughout 2022.
“Played bad in all phases,” Bowles noted. “We coached bad. We got outcoached, credit to Kyle [Shanahan] and his guys. They did a great job. We got our a** kicked on offense. We got our a** kicked on defense.”
Publicly, Brady has supported Bowles, but it will be interesting to see if the quarterback pushes for a possible change in order to return to Tampa next season. The Bucs are projected to be more than $45 million over the cap in 2023, leaving the draft as the only viable pathway to improving the team’s roster heading into next season.
Todd Bowles Goes Off When Asked Tom Brady Question After Bucs’ Blowout Loss