Buccaneers head coach Todd Bowles didn’t mince words when he addressed his team’s loss to the Falcons last Thursday.
After being asked about his message to the team after they blew a 14-point lead en route to a 29-28 loss, Bowles called the team’s performance “inexcusable” during a profanity-laced answer that ended with a call for the team to “look in the f—ing mirror.” On Wednesday, Bowles said the team talked about “accountability” in meetings and “got it our of our system” in a way that left him confident that the message was received.
“They got the message,” Bowles said, via 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.”
The impact of the messaging will be put to the test against the Panthers this Sunday. While a win won’t clinch the NFC South, it will show that the Bucs, who have gone 1-5 since their bye, are still capable of playing the kind of football needed to make it to the postseason.
