Getty Todd Bowles, Buccaneers coach
The Buccaneers were not very far removed from a bafflingly frustrating 16-13 loss to the Falcons on Sunday when coach Todd Bowles was already issuing a warning to his team.
”Can’t let one loss turn into two,” he said in his postgame press conference.
That’s always the concern for teams playing in the league’s Thursday night game, especially if there is as disappointing a loss as the Bucs suffered at the hands of Atlanta, which did as much as it could to hand the win to Tampa. Falcons quarterback Desmond Ridder committed three fumbles, including one just before the end zone when he had his pocket picked by Antonine Winfield Jr.
What a freaking play by Antoine Winfield Jr, stud!! #rtb
The Bucs woke up Sunday morning with a 3-2 record and a first-place spot in the NFC South. They could easily go to bed on Thursday, when they play the Bills, with a 3-4 record and at risk to fall to third in the division race.
“We got a game in a couple days, we’ve got to get ready for that,” Bowles said. “Understanding the mistakes we got, we’ve got to refocus, and it’s going to take everybody from a mental approach, be mentally tough. As bad as this one was, we can’t let it affect the next one.”
Will the Buccaneers Heed Todd Bowles’ Warning?
Of course, the bigger issue is that the loss on Sunday is now the second in a row for Tampa, and they will be the underdog against Buffalo on Thursday. We are seven games into the NFL season, and yet the Buccaneers improvements that Todd Bowles promises week after week is not showing up in the game.
The box score culprits were not unusual. The Bucs got into the red zone twice and failed to score touchdowns on either trip. The running game solidified its status as the league’s worst, with backs Rachaad White and Ke’Shawn Vaughn combining for 41 yards on 17 carries. And there were mental mistakes—most notably nine penalties.
“Penalty-wise,” Bowles said, “it was very sloppy.”
How did the Bucs land here?
“I couldn’t give you an explanation,” Bowles said. “We did practice well. We got to bring it to the game on Sunday. It means nothing if you don’t bring it to the game on Sunday. We had more penalties than the law allowed on offense, all three phases had a hand in it, but we’ve got to score points to win ball games.”
Will the Bucs Make Changes for Buffalo?
Bowles was noncommittal on what the Bucs might do from here—alter the offensive line? Change running backs?
“We’ll see,” he said.
But the Bucs won’t have much time. The Bills, who are considered Super Bowl contenders but are off to a disappointing 4-3 start, are next. Buffalo lost to the Patriots in a major upset on Sunday, which puts them into a decidedly similar situation as Tampa—coming back on short rest and eager to get past a bummer of a Week 7 result.
Bowles said there probably is no time to focus on Buffalo that much.
“We focus on us,” he said. “We made enough mistakes to focus on us. Can’t play Buffalo plus Tampa. We gotta get Tampa under control before we can focus on Buffalo, so we’ll focus on us.”