Bucs HC Todd Bowles: “We’re 1 Game Out Of First Place”

Bucs head coach Todd Bowles addressed the media following Sunday’s 27-20 loss to the Colts in Indianapolis. Bucs quarterback Baker Mayfield suffered an injured ankle early on, but managed to play through it. The Colts ran for 155 yards and scored three rushing touchdowns, while the Bucs had to settle for two early field goals after drives stalled inside the red zone.

Even though Todd Bowles’ team fell to 4-7, losing their sixth game in the last seven, Tampa Bay is still only one game out of first place in the NFC South.

Todd Bowles on where the team stands heading into the back stretch of the season with limited games left:

“Well, we together as a unit, got to stop making silly mistakes. You know we can’t work any harder. We work hard as anybody in the league, if not more. We’ve seen things a thousand times at this point. The young guys can’t make the mistakes they make, and we got to make plays. You know, we still understand where we are. We’re trying to get a win. We’re not worried about anything else. We’re trying to get a win. As crazy it may sound, we’re one game out of first place. But the way we’re playing it’s got to be turned around. It feels like we’re 10 games out and we’re one game out. But we got to play better and we understand that as a unit.”

On QB Baker Mayfield’s ankle injury:

“I’ll have to wait till he get checked out and see how bad it is after the game. Once he puts it up that’s going to be the telltale sign.”

On the impact of linebacker LaVonte David’s absence:

“You always miss a starter but at the same time we had guys that could have made plays. We messed up in certain areas in there where he didn’t have to be involved. But you’re going to miss one of your best players all the time.”

On whom owned the majority of Baker Mayfield’s six sacks (him or the offensive line):

“I’ll have to look at the tape to see that. I don’t really see it all what happened.”

On the fourth-and-short explosive play to Colts tight end Mo-Allie Cox:

Bowles: “We missed the coverage. Everybody sold out for the run and we missed the coverage.”

On whether Cox was linebacker SirVocea Dennis’ (who eventually made the tackle) responsibility:

“No, it wasn’t.”

On whether Devin White’s injuries are having an outsized impact on his play given that he struggled in this game:

“He’s not more beat up than anybody else that’s played all these games. You know, everybody on the team is beat up. Everybody on their team is beat up. So, you got to play. He’s a warrior. He’s going to play.”

On if the Colts did anything special to limit Vita Vea’s impact:

“No, they did absolutely nothing on Vita. They doubled them a few times. But other guys should have made plays that could have made plays. And [they] didn’t.”

On why the offense continues to struggle to score points:

“We’ve got to punch it in. We’ve got to execute. Whether it’s a penalty, whether it’s a missed pass. Whether it’s a sack, we got to be on the same page at the same time. Parts of the game we look very functional. Other parts of the game we don’t. We got to tie that together if we’re going to win any more ball games.”

On whether he thinks Mayfield will be able to play next week:

“I’m hopeful, right now without getting X-rays and tests like that. I’ll see how he feels, but if he can play he probably will.”

On if he has any update on SirVocea Dennis’ injury status:

“Not at this time.”

On if he can say what kind of injury Dennis sustained:

“Not at this time.”

On if the drive where the Bucs failed to score after having first-and-goal is an example of the team not finishing drives:

“Well not finishing drives and today uh leaky up the middle in the Run game. So, everybody had their phases where it could have been better. It was a total team effort that lost the ball game, but we got to start punching those in. You know, good teams do it. If we want to be a good team, we got to start punching those in. And we got to stop the run.”

On what went wrong with the Bucs defense on the Jonathan Taylor and Gardner Minshew TD runs:

“Obviously we didn’t make plays. I don’t think the tackling was outstanding on a couple of those plays but got to see the tape to see what happened. But we mis-fit a couple runs that let them out with guys. We had guys unblocked. And you know we got to play better tonight on defense.”

On whether the crowd played a factor in the Bucs’ offensive struggles:

“No, it wasn’t the crowd, definitely. We get penalties at the wrong time, you know. I don’t know. We didn’t have that many overall today, but the ones we had killed us.”

On whether he knows if Lavonte David and Jamel Dean (who missed the game due to injury) might be able to play next week:

“Not at this time.”

On the Antoine Winfield Jr dropped interception and Trey Palmer dropped pass:

“And at this point in the year you got to make those plays to win ball games. There was a bunch of other plays like that, that we could have made, that we need to make to win ball games. We have our chances, but we got to make plays.”

On the most frustrating part of being 4-7:

“Oh, it’s frustrating because you’re losing. But you know, we play hard. And nobody’s hanging their head. And nobody’s down and out. [The] frustrating part is not making plays and we have a chance to make plays. And we’ve seen things a thousand times. And we just got to make them.”

On Mike Evans’ impact with two touchdowns vs. Colts:

“Mike plays. I mean Mike’s gonna show up every week and Mike’s a warrior. He’s one of the guys that leads us. He’s been like that his whole career. [I] can’t say enough about the guy.”

On Payne Durham’s catch near the goal line:

“A heck of a catch. You know, Payne’s a big guy. He’s a big red zone target. He was like that in college and hopefully that’s the start of things to come.

On Yaya Diaby getting to start and whether it was because he has earned the opportunity:

“He’s definitely earned that opportunity.”

On Diaby leaving the game for a short period due to injury and returning:

“He went back out there so I’m assuming he’s okay.”