TAMPA, Fla. — Someday after the Tampa Bay Buccaneers delivered a surprising 32-9 upset of the Philadelphia Eagles to cap off tremendous wild-card weekend, coach Todd Bowles credited the group with “staying the course” when the crew had misplaced 5 of six video games and appeared destined for a shedding season.
“You are going to undergo adversity within the NFL,” Bowles, who’s in his second 12 months because the Bucs’ coach and twenty fourth as an NFL coach, mentioned Tuesday. “You are not going to undergo unscathed. Only a few groups undergo 17-0 they usually win each playoff recreation and win the Tremendous Bowl. You are going to need to study some classes. You are going to need to get mentally harder. That comes with chemistry.
“The tradition we created right here, the chemistry they developed in coaching camp and minicamp — so long as you undergo the downs collectively, you will come out of it collectively, and these guys have stayed the course.”
Bowles credited the Glazer household, who personal the Buccaneers, basic supervisor Jason Licht and the efforts of the teaching workers and gamers, who received 5 out of their ultimate six video games to clinch the NFC South title of their first season with out quarterback Tom Brady.
“We stayed the course,” Bowles mentioned. “We knew the issues that we had errors on. We knew the issues we needed to right and we simply stored tugging the chain going ahead, pulling ahead, pulling ahead. And then you definately’re seeing the outcomes on the finish.”
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Monday marked Bowles’ first profession playoff victory as a head coach and featured a few of the finest teaching of his profession, together with a six-man entrance to counter a strong Eagles dashing assault that gashed the Bucs for over 200 yards in Week 3 and countering Philadelphia’s vaunted and much-maligned “tush push” on a 2-point conversion try.
In each of these packages, he turned to not fifth general draft decide and Professional Bowler Devin White, however Ok.J. Britt, a 2021 fifth-round draft select of Auburn who Bowles described as “in all probability our greatest downhill thumper,” and had the 2 cut up reps at inside linebacker.
He additionally capitalized on the success of backup cornerback Zyon McCollum, who began 9 video games this season resulting from accidents to Jamel Dean and Carlton Davis, having McCollum occupy nook, nickel and security spots.
“Now we obtained our three finest cowl guys on the market,” Bowles mentioned. “We’re letting our elephants be elephants and our giraffes be giraffes, our blitzers blitz and our cowl guys cowl.”
Bowles joked that he was “energized with a full 90 minutes of sleep” after the win and set free a hearty snigger when requested for a glimpse contained in the thoughts of an NFL head coach.
“Do you actually need that?” Bowles mentioned earlier than chatting with the highs and lows of the season and the way it affected him personally, as a rising contingent of followers had been calling for his job as just lately as Week 18 — even after the Bucs’ 9-0 victory on the Carolina Panthers.
Quick ahead to Monday evening, with Bowles’ Bucs outgaining the Eagles 426-276 in whole yards of offense, and it has been nothing however reward.
“For me, I do know what I signed up for once I began teaching soccer,” Bowles mentioned. “While you win, you are nice — when you do not, you are not. And it isn’t even about me. I am simply blissful to see the smile on the man’s faces and the outcomes from all of the exhausting work they put in, the exhausting work the coaches put in, seeing it repay and seeing them reap the advantages of it proper now and simply obtained to proceed.”
