TAMPA, Fla. — He is not as pious as Tony Dungy, and not as maniacal as Jon Gruden.
For that matter, he is not as sarcastic as John McKay and not nearly as funny as Bruce Arians.
There is a strong personality there but when the television lights come on, it is kept mostly under wraps. As Bucs coaches go, it’s hard to describe exactly where Todd Bowles fits on the descriptive scale.
Except, maybe, for this:
He is the right man at the right moment.
Obviously, that’s a premature sentiment. We are one game into the Bowles Era, and one ugly loss away from someone calling him a mistake.
But if there was a takeaway from the season-opening win at Dallas, it was that the Bucs looked and played like a team in control. Bowles has not just offered a different voice from the head coach’s office, but also a different focus. And that could be both necessary and good.
We know better than any other market that you’re not going to win in this league without plenty of talent. Tampa Bay has lived through enough failed coaching regimes to appreciate that bluster and schemes do not supersede muscle and speed.
But we also understand the value of a fresh outlook. A new approach. A shaking up of the status quo.
Dungy is a Hall of Fame coach. He won a Super Bowl in Indianapolis. He, along with Rich McKay, was responsible for completely changing the culture in Tampa Bay after 13 consecutive losing seasons.
And yet the Bucs did not win a Super Bowl until the year after he was fired.
That doesn’t mean Dungy wouldn’t have eventually gotten the job done. For heaven’s sake, he made the playoffs in 11 of his 13 seasons as a head coach, including the last 10.
But at that moment, in 2002, Gruden was the right man for the job. He revamped the offense. He turned Monte Kiffin loose on the defense. He won more postseason games in 15 days than Dungy had won in the previous five years. He was the perfect choice for a team on the cusp of greatness.
Now, 20 years later, we might be in a similar situation.
Arians, like Dungy, will always hold a special place in the hearts of Bucs fans. He not only brought a more dynamic offense to Tampa Bay, but he also brought a necessary swagger. Arians recognized the talent around him, and he helped an unproven team reach its potential.
Yet, is it possible, that Bowles is the better choice in 2022?
On the surface, it seems like a misguided thought. Arians was 80-48-1 with four playoff appearances as a head coach. Bowles is 27-41 and has never reached the postseason as a head coach.
But, come Sunday afternoon, a resume isn’t as important as the scoreboard.
And based on what we saw in Dallas, the Bucs are a more disciplined team under Bowles. They were devoted to running the ball. They committed fewer penalties. They chewed up the clock. They only scored 19 points, but avoided turnovers and three-and-outs, which took the pressure off the defense.
Do you know how many times the Bucs called more running plays than passes in 2021?
Zero.
Yet, that’s what they did in the 2022 opener.
It’s almost as if Tom Brady got exactly what he was looking for when he came back out of retirement in the spring and Arians, unexpectedly, stepped down. The Bucs have a more balanced offense, and a seemingly greater attention to detail.
For, as transcendent as he is, Brady is still a 45-year-old immobile quarterback. Averaging more than 42 passes a game — as he did in 2021 when he led the league in attempts — almost guarantees Brady will take an unnecessary beating in the pocket.
That doesn’t mean there won’t be games this season when Brady exceeds 40 passes. Maybe even 50. But you get the feeling that will only be out of necessity as opposed to design.
There was a brashness to the way the Bucs approached games under Arians. Collecting victories was obviously his main goal, but scoring 30 points a game seemed a close second.
The early evidence suggests a more measured philosophy under Bowles. A world where the defense’s priorities get as much consideration as the offense.
It may not be as sexy as the past couple of seasons, but it could be beneficial to an older quarterback. And to the team’s place in the standings.
It could be the right plan at the right time.
