Todd Bowles’ language was about as colorful as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ ‘Creamsicle’ jerseys.
The Buccaneers dropped their Week 15 ‘Thursday Night Football’ matchup to the Atlanta Falcons 29-28, a walk-off loss after Tampa Bay held a 28-14 lead as the fourth quarter commenced.
With time ticking down, emotions ran high on the sideline. Tampa Bay wide receiver Mike Evans was visibly frustrated even before Zane Gonzalez lined up to take the game-winning kick. Those emotions followed Evans into the locker room, and onto the podium postgame, where Bowles let loose an expletive-laden tirade regarding the collapse.
‘It’s inexcusable, you don’t make excuses,’ Bowles said when asked what his message to the team was after the loss. ‘You gotta (expletive) care enough, where this (expletive) hurts. You gotta (expletive) care enough where this (expletive) hurts.
‘It’s gotta (expletive) mean something. It’s more than a job, it’s your (expletive) livelihood. How well do you know your job? How well can you do your job? You can’t sugarcoat that (expletive). It was in-(expletive)-excusable. There was no (expletive) answer for it. There’s no excuse for it. That’s what you tell them in the locker room. Look in the (expletive) mirror.’
Bowles’ F-bomb count stopped at seven total, which now mirrors the amount of wins and losses the Buccaneers have on the season.
On Friday, Bowles said that the rant came at the heat of the moment, and wasn’t pre-planned.
‘It definitely wasn’t by design. That was how I felt at the time. That was honest, raw and right off the top. Usually my son’s watching, I don’t cuss as much, but I was still pissed off from the time I came in,’ he told reporters during his Friday media availability.
With a 7-7 record, Tampa Bay has given up control of the NFC South to the Carolina Panthers. The two squads play each other twice over the final three weeks of the season. Should the Panthers sweep, they’ll take the division.
The Falcons climb to 5-9 on the season, but were eliminated from NFL playoff contention in Week 14.