Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Todd Bowles spent his Wednesday press conference on the Chicago Bears, a 6-2 team that has won three in a row and now has Jeffery Simmons on its defensive line. “Anytime you get a superstar like that coming in, obviously you’ve seen his impact in the first game he played in,” Bowles said. “It just heightens everybody else on defense, and I think he brought that to that team.”
The 3-5 Buccaneers have won two straight, including a 16-0 shutout of the Atlanta Falcons in which they ran for a franchise-record 324 yards without completing a pass. They visit Soldier Field on Sunday night, November 8, with kickoff at 8:20 p.m. ET, which is 3:20 a.m. Monday in Cairo.
Egbuka: “Just not related”
Bowles was asked about receiver Emeka Egbuka’s foot injury, and whether it is connected to the toe problem that slowed him in the preseason. “No,” Bowles said, and added, “Just not related.” On Egbuka’s status for the week, Bowles said: “He was out today. We’ll see how he’s feeling from the running, and we’ll try and do more tomorrow. Have a better idea.”
“Everybody’s got to do their job”
On Caleb Williams, Bowles listed what stands out on tape: “His athleticism, his arm, his quick release, how well he dissects the play and gets rid of the football. But just command of the offense, really.” Asked how to counter a quarterback who thrives when a play breaks down, he said it takes all 11. “Everybody’s got to do their job. He can throw in-schedule throws and off-schedule throws both very well, and he can make things happen out of the pocket and in the pocket,” Bowles said. “So we’ve got to be sound, all 11 guys. If one guy’s out of place, he’ll make you pay.”
On Bears head coach and play caller Ben Johnson, whose offense he faced when Johnson was in Detroit, Bowles said: “It’s a great offense. He had a great offense there. He has a great offense now. He’s very multiple. He does a lot of things with it. Slows the tempo, speeds the tempo, different personnel groupings. Uses everybody in the offense. It keeps you honest.”
The secondary and Anzalone
The Buccaneers’ defense has stopped dropping interceptions, and Bowles said he does not take the credit for the change. “I’m not complaining,” he said with a smile. “It’s just a credit to those guys’ hard work, and then emphasizing it, re-emphasizing it with the coaches and them getting it to the players. They’re making plays.”
Asked how this homegrown secondary compares with the ones he has coached in Tampa, including the group from the Super Bowl season, he stayed measured. “It’s still early. I think they catch the ball better, but it’s still early and they’re still jelling that way,” Bowles said. “That’ll be written as their careers go on, as far as how far they’ll go. But right now they’re playing great football. Very happy to see it.”
He also praised linebacker Alex Anzalone, who has taken the green-dot role. “His intelligence. Wanting the green dot, wanting to be the guy, constantly wanting to learn,” Bowles said. “There’s a lot of guys that talk the talk and won’t walk the walk. He does both. Guys have ingratiated themselves towards him, and him to them, and I think he’s done an outstanding job since he’s been here.” On Anzalone’s interception, Bowles said his years in Detroit playing the boundary helped him read the play, calling him “a heady football player.”
The running game: “We finally got on the same page”
Asked why the run game has been so consistent, Bowles pointed to tweaks and trust. “We’ve tweaked some things, obviously, in how we’re running it, and the things that certain guys can do well up front, as well as what kind of runs the backs can do,” he said. “The coaches get more comfortable with the players and vice versa, and everybody’s settling into the scheme and buying in and being on the same page. We finally got on the same page, and they’re making it work.”
On the 1A-1B backfield, he said Kenneth Gainwell is being used more and more. “That’s the 1A, 1B we were talking about when we first signed him,” Bowles said. “Not to the degree of the carries, 27 and 25, but at the same time, we know he’s a great running back, and he can do a lot of things for us, and he put it on display Sunday.” Asked why Sean Tucker did not get more work, he said: “Those guys got rolling, so anytime they get rolling, it’s easy to be forgotten about when they’re playing that well. So he’ll get his plays.”
Bowles also had a line for the offensive line, whose members said after the game that they had heard outside noise about not playing to their potential. “First of all, Luke’s not supposed to hear outside noise. I’ve got to give them some noise-cancelling headphones,” he said. “But as a player, you’re going to see that stuff, and it motivates you. Keep ripping them so they can keep rising to the occasion.”
Balance, Baker’s block and the weather
Tampa Bay threw just three passes against Atlanta, and a reporter asked whether the team can flip the switch to balance this week. “We know we have to be more balanced. We practice that way. It’s not like we’re flipping the switch,” Bowles said. “Conditions just went otherwise. We know we’re not going to be able to run the ball 50-plus times and win ball games. We know we’ve got to be well balanced, and each game is going to take on an identity of its own.”
On the block Baker Mayfield threw on Jessie Bates III in the mud, he joked: “He had to get involved somehow. It was one of them kind of games, and I guess he got bored and went down there. It was a very heavy play on him. And Baker finishes the block, just what we preach in practice. I was proud of him.”
On the forecast for Chicago, with temperatures expected in the high 30s or low 40s, Bowles said the cold is normal for a lot of his players from the Midwest and East Coast. “You play football in any kind of weather. You’ve got to be prepared to play in any kind of weather,” he said. “We’ll never use that as an excuse.” He also said the rainy home game against Atlanta did not give his team an edge on Atlanta, which plays more than half its games in a dome stadium: “No, I really don’t, because we don’t really play that kind of downpour either. It was just a matter of trying to take care of the football.” He gave the fans credit for enduring it: “They deserve about as much credit as Bucky and Kenny.”
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