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Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Todd Bowles has received plenty of criticism for the team’s inconsistent season, but Tom Brady continues to support the team’s coaching staff, at least publicly. Prior to the Buccaneers’ most recent loss to the Bengals, Brady offered unprompted praise for how Bowles has handled this season.
“No one’s feeling sorry for us, no one outside the locker room can do much about it,” Brady explained during a December 15 press conference. “We’ve got to come together, and we’ve got to do it ourself. I think I really appreciate what Todd [Bowles] is doing. He’s putting it on us to fix it, and that’s what our responsibility is to do.
“…He’s just really allowed the leaders, the players to say, ‘You guys got to go out there and do it. We’re going to coach you up but you players got to go get it done.’ So, that’s what we’re trying to do.”
Brady: ‘I have a Great Relationship With Byron’
It will be interesting to see if Brady changes his tune following another disappointing loss to Cincinnati. Tampa Bay went from leading 17-3 at halftime to losing the game by 11 points, a score which would have been much worse aside from the Bucs notching a garbage-time touchdown.
Prior to the Bucs-Bengals showdown, Brady refuted the report that he holds separate meetings with offensive players that the coaching staff is not privy to. Brady also seemed to dispute the idea that there is any friction between himself and offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich.
“It’s been great. I have a great relationship with Byron,” Brady added. “I talk to Byron 100 times a day. We talk about everything.”
It is worth noting that Brady has admitted in the past that his press conferences are rarely entirely truthful. If Brady did have a problem with the coaching staff, there is little chance the legendary quarterback would go public with his complaints.
Brady on Loss vs. Bengals: ‘Five Turnovers Doesn’t Win You Any Football Games’
Brady has thrown five interceptions over the last three games, including two against the Bengals. As for the tale of two halves, Brady had little answers but pointed to turnovers as a major reason for the blown lead.
“I don’t think we lack confidence in playing good, it’s just consistency and two good quarters doesn’t win you any football games and five turnovers doesn’t win you any football games,” Brady explained during his December 18 postgame press conference.
The Bucs Are Expected to Keep Bowles for 2023: Report
Tampa Bay continues to sit in the driver’s seat atop the NFC South, but the way the team has played offers little confidence that the Bucs are poised to make any postseason noise. The pressure is on Tampa Bay to prove to Brady that the Buccaneers can once again become a contender as the quarterback tests free agency in 2023.
Tampa Bay is projected to be more than $40 million over the cap next season. It will be interesting to see if Brady pushes for any coaching changes if he is to return to the Bucs.
ESPN’s Dan Graziano reported on December 14 that the early indications are that Bowles’ job is safe for 2023. The same may not be true for Leftwich and some of the other Buccaneers assistants.
“I do not get the sense that the two other disappointing coaches in the NFC South, Tampa Bay’s Todd Bowles and New Orleans’ Dennis Allen, are on shaky ground, but it wouldn’t surprise me if both of them (assuming they’re kept) made the kinds of coaching staff changes they didn’t make when they ascended to their posts last offseason,” Graziano detailed. “The Tampa situation is especially interesting because of all the unknowns around Tom Brady.”
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