Bucs HC Bowles: “We Got Our Asses Kicked”

Bucs head coach Todd Bowles used some frank language when talking about his team’s 35-7 loss to the 49ers. Bowles covered a lot of topics from his team’s poor play to injuries to whether or not he would make any coaching changes after Sunday’s blowout loss. The Bucs are now 6-7 and their lead in the NFC South has narrowed him to just one game with Carolina’s win in Seattle.

Here is a transcript of Bowles’ post-game press conference in San Francisco:

On the play of 49ers rookie QB Brock Purdy against the Bucs:

“Kyle [Shanahan] did a great job. They got us on two double moves. He ran the offense. Everything we knew we had it coming and we’ve just got to … in short, we got our asses kicked.”

On if Tom Brady’s hand injury have any affect on his throws:

“He didn’t say it affected him. I don’t know how it’s feeling yet. It’s too early to tell and we’ll go from there.”

On the Bucs defense, which had been playing well prior to Sunday, and the offense playing poorly in San Francisco:

“We were bad in all phases. We coached bad. We got out-coached. Credit to Kyle and his guys. They did a great job. We got our ass kicked on offense. We got our ass kicked on defense.”

On the injury to DT Vita Vea:

“He’s got a strained calf right now.”

On Donovan Smith’s holding penalty negating Mike Evans’ 68-yard touchdown catch in the first quarter:

“It’s devastating because we’re playing the 49ers and we’re playing the Bucs – and we can’t beat two teams. We’re beating ourselves and credit to them – they beat us as well. They had a good scheme, but we’re beating ourselves too and making it even harder.”

On updates to OLB Joe Tryon-Shoyinka’s hip injury and CB Jamel Dean’s toe injury:

“Not at this time.”

On if the short week coming off Monday Night Football and traveling cut into the Bucs’ preparation for the 49ers game:

“Not at all. We’re playing for the division and it’s December football. It’s a credit to them. They kicked our ass. No credit to us, we coached bad and played bad. We got out-coached and we got out-played. Simple as that.”

On if the lack of film on rookie QB Brock Purdy caused the defense to not be prepared:

“Not at all. It was the scheme. It was [Christian] McCaffrey more than anything. Out of our gaps in the run game and blown calls at the end and having brain farts.”

On what he said to the team after the Bucs’ 35-7 loss to the 49ers:

“We have to decide what team we want to be. We can’t be one set of Bucs and another set of Bucs. It’s got to mean something. We’ve got a one-game lead – with four games to go. Either we want it or we don’t. You can’t care more than everybody else. As a coach you don’t go on the field. But we got out-coached, so we’re not excused from this at all. We got out-played as well. So as a team, as a group, we have to buckle down and we have decide what our fate is in the next couple of weeks.”

On if safeties Antoine Winfield Jr. and Mike Edwards might return for the Bengals game:

“We’ll see as the week goes. It doesn’t matter if they’re on the field or not. We’ve got guys that step in and play. You’ve got to step up when your number is called. When you get a chance to play you have to show you can play.”

On the play of rookie return specialist Deven Thompkins:

“He gave us a spark. He’s got to hold on to the ball, but he gave us a spark. But he’s quick and we know he can do some things with the ball. He showed that today.”

On if he would consider making any changes to the coaching staff after the 35-7 loss:

“We always tweak some things, but it’s way too late in the season to just flat out change – because the system is in place. But you can coach it better and you can play it better. Any time you win it’s coaching and playing together. Any time you lose it’s coaching and playing together. And we’ve got to coach it better and we have to play it better. It’s as simple as that.”

On whether he would consider benching Donovan Smith over his rash of penalties:

“We’re kind of low on tackles with Tristan down, but we’ve got to play better. We’ve got to play better. We know what Donovan is. We can’t have the penalties – it’s Bucs beating Bucs. He had some last week. He had some this week. He’s got to play better. We have to play better as a group. We have to coach better as a group.”

On if Tristan Wirfs could return for the Bengals game from his ankle sprain:

“It’s too early to tell.”

On if he feels the team let QB Tom Brady down in his homecoming game to the Bay Area:

“You feel bad about the team. We don’t play for one guy – regardless of who it is. We don’t play or coach this game for one guy. We play it as a team. We’ve got to block for him. We have 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. Today was a complete team effort of losing and getting our asses kicked.”

On the play of RB Christian McCaffrey with 49ers:

“He played a good ball game. They blocked for us. We got out of gaps some. We have to see what happened on the tape for the most part. We played bad on defense and he played great on offense. He’s a great player. He’s hard to handle in any scheme and he did his job today.”

On the Bucs losing some early momentum with Keanu Neal’s penalty on the game’s opening sack:

“He tried to lower his target. He’s a smaller quarterback to begin with. We talk about it all the time. We work at it all the time. He understands that. We can’t have the penalty.”

On his message to his 6-7 Bucs team:

“Decide who we want to be. We can’t be an up and down team. We have four weeks left to find out who we want to be this season and accomplish our goal.