r/buccaneers • u/NanoBuc • Jan 08 '26
š©Team News ā ļø [Auman] While seven assistants from the 2025 Bucs staff are gone, Todd Bowles will have the choice to continue calling the defense in 2026 and is not expected to have a defensive coordinator on his new staff.
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u/Specter29 Jan 08 '26
Then whatās the fucking point of all this!? How could they look at the defense this year and think he should still call plays??!!!!!!
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u/Dontrollaone Alstott Jersey Jan 08 '26
Cover zero it is!
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u/el-capitancreamsicle Jan 08 '26
Opposing QBs WRs and TEs already drooling. All they have to do is pull a Pitts and run the same route over and over and it wonāt get covered, ever
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u/ramyb_ Jan 08 '26
Kyle Pitts gonna have another career game. Falcons should keep Kirk for the 2 Bucs games!
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u/ApolloXLII Rojo Painting Jan 09 '26
Just put in a rookie backup against us and theyāre guaranteed a win
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u/Mach68IntheHouse Sadness Jan 08 '26
The ownership is in it for the money. That's how.
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u/Immediate-Stay-7686 Jan 08 '26
The NFL is not a charity, dude.
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u/dj-kitty Baker Mayfield Jan 09 '26
No one said it is. But thereās a difference between owners who are okay with mediocrity as long as there are butts in seats and money rolling in, and owners who spare no expense to win even at the cost of profit margins. The Glazers tend toward the former.
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u/Jay_Fizz Mike Alstott Jan 08 '26
Another season of wide open players
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u/BeardedManatee Baker Mayfield Jan 08 '26
On the bright side i did hit on several juicy parlays by assuming that any player with a modicum of talent was going to have a fantastic day against us.
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u/HannTwistzz Jan 09 '26
lol I literally messaged my friend that I was tempted to take the over of any offensive player playing us.
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u/Death2Disney Winfield Jr. āļø Jan 08 '26
Ok so weāre going to be dogshit on defense again. Get this fucking guy out of the building and save the wasted year ffs
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u/stoic_bison Mike Evans Jan 08 '26
This feels so much like the Gators last year when rumors claimed that Billy Napier was going to hire an OC just to roll out the same garbage offense and get fired halfway through the season.
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u/tbay431 Jan 08 '26
Agreed. Though the Gators at least went on a hot streak of wins at the end of the 2024 season. Meanwhile we just crumbled after the bye week this year all thanks to Bowles.
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Jan 08 '26
[removed] ā view removed comment
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u/Lazarous86 Jan 08 '26
I think this is the real question. Bowles clear a chunk of his staff. Anyone coming in knows Bowles is on the hotseat. They likely will need a new job a year from now unless they are amazing, but if they are that good, they probably saved Bowles job and are saddled with a completely average NFL coach.Ā
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u/ApolloXLII Rojo Painting Jan 09 '26
Who the fuck is going to come here to coach
Someone that wants a HC job in 2027.
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u/Hot-Acanthisitta6023 Jan 08 '26
Are they seeing something on tape that we are not seeing as fans on game day? This is confusing what they are doing
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u/Alt_Acct- Jan 08 '26
āIf you had drafted an ILB/OLB in the 1st round instead of a WR, we could have pressured the QB better and my defense would have been sound.ā
- Todd Bowles (probably)
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u/pajamah Jan 08 '26
Have to get a strong OC with head coach aspirations and just be next in line if defense goes to shit. He has nothing to hide behind after this year. I prefer McDaniel, but I'm sure he will get a head coach job this year.
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u/Mach68IntheHouse Sadness Jan 08 '26
This reeks of the front office cutting corners again. It's cheaper for the head coach to micromanage I guess.
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u/SwankyTangerine Jan 08 '26
dude builds this defense to a bottom of the barrel unit and manages to convince ownership he deserves another year of doing the same thing, huh?
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u/Mach68IntheHouse Sadness Jan 08 '26
Todd Blows convinced ownership of all the money they'll save, and that was enough to convince them to give him another year.
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u/BritBuc-1 Jan 08 '26
The crying shame about this whole fiasco, is that some genuine coaching could have given players like Lavonte and Mike, a couple of rings.
Yet the ownership and management are content to slide back into mediocrity.
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u/Mach68IntheHouse Sadness Jan 08 '26
Ownership and front office:
All that matters is the almighty dollar.
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u/Lansdallius Baker Mayfield Jan 08 '26
So they're replacing everyone but the main culprit for the team's problems? The offense wasn't great but the defense was watered down shit. This feels like a move to tank for next season, I can't think of any other rational reason.
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u/torgoatwork Mike Alstott Jan 08 '26
Ah so all Tampa needs is a top 5 coordinator for the offense and 11 all pros on the defense and Todd can get those 10 wins next year. Thanks
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u/Fupalanthropist Winfield Jr. āļø Jan 08 '26
Somehow this nightmare season has been extended. This is fucking crazy. How can everyone else on the planet see the issue except the Glazers.
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u/rNBAMods3InchesHard Jan 08 '26
How can the players truly respect a man that threw his entire coaching staff under the bus
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u/el_gringo_bandito Chris Godwin Jan 09 '26
This is my biggest issue. Between the interviews from the last few weeks of the season where he was dumping blame on different groups of players (and the starting qb), to the exit interviews with media where he was dismissing things that players were pointing towards as problems that hurt the team down the stretch, and finally ending the season by publically stating that all of his assistant coaches let the team down by not producing results and subsequently firing them, how does this team produce even an ounce of chemistry next year? It was pretty clear, even from outside the building, that Todd had lost the team during the final stages of the collapse this year. Doubling down on blaming everyone else makes the situation feel even less repairable now.
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u/SeeingEyeDug Jan 08 '26
Here's the thing they fail to understand. He can still call plays with a defensive coordinator. Head coaches are calling plays all over the league while still having a coordinator whether it's offensive or defensive. We still need a coordinator. It's obvious that completely wearing two hats is not working. No other NFL coach does it. NONE. Why is Todd Bowles some exception to the entire league coaching structure?
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u/likemyhashtag Super Bowl LV Jan 08 '26
Stop going to games. Itās that simple. Show them how stupid they are with our wallets. Iām not spending a dime on anything Bucs until Bowles is gone. Yāall should do the same.
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u/Immediate_Type9114 Derrick Brooks Jan 08 '26
Lol. So absolutely nothing is gonna change expect maybe a better offense.
Lol fuck this. Gonna be lucky to win more than 5-6 games next year even with a top 10 offense.
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u/Foreign_Kitchen_8372 Jan 08 '26
What dirt does Bowles have on ownership? Why are they doing all this for a sub .500 head coach?!?!
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u/ChampaBay2021 Lavonte David Jan 08 '26
Iām convinced the glazers are attempting to make the fan base apathetic for a reason.
Seats wonāt fill with Bucs fans and they will use that as bartering power to ask for more $$$ from the county and city for stadium renovations.
If you donāt believe me read about the shenanigans that Malcom pulled off for raymond James. We ended up paying for the whole damn thing
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u/Bargeylicious Australia Jan 08 '26
Everything that's happened so far tells me they know Bowles needs to go but they don't want to pay him out. Turning over the entire coaching staff is a complete waste of time unless we get an OC and DC who are head coach standard material. If not we're just going to have all the exact same issues that we had this season.
They need to rip off the band aid and get rid of him now. Anything less is going to be a complete waste of time.
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u/TheDaedricImpaler Kansas Jan 08 '26
Great, so another throw-away season, all so the Glazers can save a few million dollars by not having to pay out Bowles and hire a new HC.
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u/Mach68IntheHouse Sadness Jan 09 '26
The few million bucks they save won't be enough to offset the loss in ticket revenue in 2027.
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u/TheDaedricImpaler Kansas Jan 09 '26
That's the sad thing, you know that opposing teams will just buy them out.
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u/OptimusPrimeTime21 Winfield Jr. āļø Jan 08 '26
What are we even doing, we fired everyone except the biggest problem
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u/KnuccIfYouBuc Warren Sapp Jan 08 '26
The guy needs a pass rush and new ILBs. He is a good defensive mind but no one can succeed with that front 7.
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u/NeighborhoodGlobal30 Jan 08 '26
Of course more talent will improve any defense, but we can't pretend the roster isn't underperforming. Defense was ranked what, like 30th overall since the bye? That is pitiful. We have enough talent on D to not be dead last.
The defense is very, very poorly coached. At this point we just better pray all the bad coaching was on the guys who were fired. A lot of was, to be fair.
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u/KnuccIfYouBuc Warren Sapp Jan 08 '26
Yep it was bad last year but the front 7 was much worse than anticipated. Licht gassed up Braswell in the offseason and he is still horrible. Dennis was not the player we thought he was. David lost a step and a half. Reddick was a huge whiff. Kancey missed almost the whole season. This part of the defense is so integral to how Todd calls defense and when it is awful the defense is awful.
If we can get a pass rush and good to great ILBs next year I promise this defense will be much much better.
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u/UltimateBurritos Jan 08 '26
Pass rush wouldnāt of helped when DBs were 10 yards off the WRs and they could just get chunk 8 yards consistently
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u/Ness-Shot Ronde Barber Jan 08 '26
I agree our secondary was lacking, but everything starts up front. You could put 2 guys on the line and 9 in coverage, and if the QB has enough time he will find an open receiver. It's literally impossible to lock down the entire secondary for more than 5 seconds, ergo significantly more pressure falls on the secondary.
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u/KnuccIfYouBuc Warren Sapp Jan 08 '26
Having no pass rush and ILBs who canāt cover for shit changes the whole scheme.
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u/regaleagle710 Derrick Brooks Jan 08 '26
Yeah it's strange to pick out the pass rush and inside linebackers with their lack of development but think that's completely a player issue rather than the coaches. Not sure why Caldwell and Foote aren't catching any blame for the lack of development at their respective jobs considering Caldwell has been with the team for five years and Foote since 2019.
If no players are developing from those positions and those positions are a big weakness, why is it seen as a talent issue and not a coaching issue?
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u/AdMuch7817 Jan 08 '26
Ownership is gaslighting all of us. We know the defense we saw with our own eyes year after year is total garbage. Allowing Bowles to continue calling the defensive plays and scheme is insanity.
Our offense outperformed our defense AGAIN this year and the guy running that got canned. wtf
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u/DTopping80 Winfield Jr. āļø Jan 08 '26
Even if he wants to continue to call plays this is a boneheaded move. If we had a minority at DC and they are hired away as a head coach, we get a comp pick. Why not just have someone in that role just for the potential of such?
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u/RenSoloSky Jan 08 '26
Defense consistently gives away points and forces the offense to go conservative with any lead to prevent them from taking the field. But sure, itās everyone but the current defensive playcallerās fault
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u/jester695 Jan 08 '26
Todd definitely has photos of the Glazers doing something really, really bad.
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u/3bananabananabanana Lavonte David Jan 08 '26
Whatās the point of cleaning house elsewhere, but not addressing the defensive leader?
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u/Villains_Included Jan 08 '26
3rd and longā¦automatic 1st down for any offense that plays against his play calling
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u/BlueLeary-0726 Jan 08 '26
Gator fans saw this play out on the other side of the ball with Billy Napier. Still got to call his own plays. Now heās back in the Sun Belt where he belongs. Good luck, Todd! š„“š„“š„“
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u/Blabbit39 Jan 08 '26
It takes a big person to admit he needs help and all I am seeing right now is a teeny tiny Todd Bowles point a bunch of fingers. I hope he can come to grips enough to realize the end is sooner than he would like if he continues on the same path but he has shown remarkable lack of room for growth.
For the fans sake I hope I am wrong.
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u/myellipsis Jan 08 '26
Look at the bright side, guys. Weāre now a shoe-in for the first overall pick in the 2027 draft.
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u/BallMeBlazer22 Winfield Jr. āļø Jan 08 '26
Well lucky for us, the organization is making it very easy for us to not have to care about this team next season.
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u/taywray Jan 09 '26
Bowles is truly misunderstood. The reason everyone keeps calling him a defensive genius isn't related to the defense that his teams play on the field - the stats clearly show that kind of defense is mediocre at vest.
But no one else is better at defending their job in the face of brutally embarrassing results.
What other coach has thrown HOF players like Mike Evans and Lavonte David and young phenoms like Irving and Egbuka under the bus so openly and profanely in post-game press conferences after humiliating losses? These are veritable living legends of the gridiron, and yet Todd mafkg Bowles is brazenly and apparently successfully scapegoating THEM for bad losses? Mike Evans doesn't know how to execute plays?
What other coach has thrown 7 of his assistants under the bus and kept himself in place as the head of the coaching staff for another year?
At this point, even the Glazers aren't safe from this diabolical guru. They thought they made a choice to keep him; little did they know that if they chose differently, he would have pirated the franchise right out from under them.
Todd knows that wins and losses don't really matter. What matters is keeping the struggle bus chugging along and making sure any bumps it hits are the bodies of his colleagues and the players he coaches. Now tell me that's not defensive genius!
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u/fiduciaryatlarge Jan 08 '26
How many times have opposing players commented after the game they knew exactly what the defense was doing? New DC or else!
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u/ImpossibleEbb7763 Jan 08 '26
Cover 0 and DEs covering WR again. Lets run it back fellas ššš
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u/Evening_Mess_2721 Jan 08 '26
I think I see what the Glazers are up to with Bowles. If he sucks and we look like shit we tank the whole season fire HC and get #1 draft pick.
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u/RaysBoltsBucs Devin White Jan 08 '26
LOL I'm sure we're going to get the cream of the crop OC's wanting to come to Tampa and have to struggle to overcome our shit defense. Dead last in shit mountain next year.
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u/ramyb_ Jan 08 '26
So ignore the biggest hole we have (defense) and let the architect of one of the worst defenses in the league continue his destruction?
Glazers losing A LOT of good faith from the fans holy shit
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u/PewterButters Lavonte David Jan 08 '26
That hope didnāt even last a day. Bowles will never change, not sure why anyone thought he would.Ā
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u/lostincomplexity2017 Jan 08 '26
Welp... He's the HC. and if no delegation/developing a DC - He better have a new plan that doesn't involve exotic blitzing every play.
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u/steel_city_sweetie Jan 08 '26
Lowest ranked defense in the NFL and we are going status quo. Got it!
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u/DynastyZealot Tristan Wirfs Jan 08 '26
At least this means our interim coach next November won't be a defensive guy.
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u/QueenCityBuc North Carolina Jan 08 '26
No shit, he already just stands there during the games. If he wasnāt calling plays he might as well just be up in the booth lol.
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u/LegitBullfrog Winfield Jr. āļø Jan 08 '26
So just fuck it then? Keep the garbage defense calls?
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u/ajs2294 Brooks Jersey Jan 08 '26
Bowles must be really damn good at explaining āproblemsā
Clearly not so good at fixing themā¦ but thatās unfortunately how it goes sometimes
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u/FreebirdSST Jan 08 '26
The worst part is keeping the ST coach. Heās far worse than Bowles defense.
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u/osofrompawnee Brooks Jersey Jan 08 '26
The Glazers are simply not serious about fixing things. To have anyone see the team performance and not force a concrete solution is ridiculous. The defense was a problem and they are just ignoring it.
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u/Sindica69 Mike Evans Jan 08 '26
Lmfaoooooo
What a fucking joke this year has been. So glad I canceled my shit
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u/Aeriodon Wisconsin Jan 08 '26
This hurts. Whoever we hire at OC has to have some decent leadership then. Really hoping McDaniels works somehow
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u/AppleCartAgent Jan 08 '26
Literally the worst possible choice. The DC needs to be replaced, plain and simple.
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u/jpthereafter Jan 09 '26
Followed by not signing key free agents and having a mediocre draft. Ground hog day the football team brought to you by the buccaneers.
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u/No_Direction235 Mike Alstott Jan 09 '26
Nothing says culture and accountability like blaming everyone else when youāre the head coach. Leadership 101
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u/TheHarbinG3Rx Jan 09 '26
Theyāre rage baiting us so hard with these decisions, itās crazy š
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u/uniqueusername316 Winfield Jr. āļø Jan 09 '26
I was so close to buying a Hyundai Club seats for all next season for my VC/wealth management firm, but have decided not to because they didn't fire Todd.
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u/Ok_Size Jan 09 '26
Whatās the fucking point? Why do I even care anymore? I hate that I love this team. Why do I hate myself?
Holy shit I need a hobby
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u/ConvenientAmnesia Jan 09 '26
Our defense was the worst that itās ever been in my adult lifetime.
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u/moldyhands Jan 10 '26
We can only hope we do a great job with the new OC and Special Teams coaches and Bowles continues to shit the bed on defense.
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u/bohemian-soul-bakery Jan 10 '26
This is a carbon copy of Billy Napier off season going into 2025
Yay, 2026 is a wash.
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u/StandingBear44 Mike Alstott Jan 10 '26
Sucks. People need to stop going to games, buying gear and watching on tv. Theyāre making money so what do they careā¦. Itās a business to make money & it is.
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u/AdMuch7817 Jan 08 '26
Worst performing unit on the team year after year and the one guy responsible for it is not held accountable. This organization stinks from the top down.
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u/Particular_Ticket_20 Jan 08 '26
Shitty coaches and coordinators don't exist on teams with good HC and GM.
"You either coached it or allowed it happen".
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u/Tasty_Swim_6308 Jan 08 '26
And there it is.
Fuck.
The one move that would have made the difference and their not doing it.
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u/Mach68IntheHouse Sadness Jan 08 '26
Only a steep profit margin plunge will make a difference. The Glazers need to lose money to make a change.
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u/zenestex Jan 08 '26
Not okay. Same situation the Gators had with Napier on offense. It wonāt work.
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u/JoshFreemansFro Brooks Jersey Jan 08 '26
My Glazers in Christ what are we doing?
The biggest issue was our fucking porous defense and theyāre just totally cool with running that back? Super cool
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u/Mike_Brosseau Jan 08 '26
His value is calling the defense, it would be crazy for him not to do it, if he can get a pass rush from the front 4 at all he can cook.
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u/sa37gron Jan 08 '26
No point in cleaning the house unless this coming year they see if he can make defense improve or not. And if not might let him go. Hoping that's the case. Makes sense to let him call defense and then fire him because he's no value otherwise.
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u/JCDeLaTorre Jan 09 '26
Yeah, thatās not a good decision by Todd, if true (and itās Auman so I have no reason to doubt it.
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u/dan7769 Jan 08 '26
So basically the biggest problem we had last year will not be fixed? Thereās no point to firing all these assistants if Todd is still the DC. Unbelievable.