With less than two minutes left on the clock and down by 10 points, the Bucs needed a miracle to escape defeat on Monday night against the Baltimore Ravens.
Legendary Ravens safety Ed Reed had already criticized his former team on the ManningCast for treating the game as a foregone conclusion.
GettyGodwin leaves the field with his ankle in an air cast[/caption]
Despite allowing two late touchdowns, everyone watching and the emptying Tampa Bay crowd clearly felt the game was over.
But Bucs head coach Todd Bowles apparently felt differently. Having already recovered an onside kick just to then reduce the deficit to 10 points, Bowles continued throwing the ball, leaving Baker Mayfield and his starters on the field.
They ended up paying the price just moments later, wide receiver Chris Godwin going down after a tackle from behind as he caught a first down pass.
The reactions from his teammates immediately pointed to a serious injury and Godwin was carted off the field with an air cast around his leg.
According to Bowles, the early indications are that Godwin suffered an ankle dislocation and while a timeline for return is thus far unclear, there is little doubt that he will miss time.
Desperately unlucky as he and his team was, Bowles has made himself an obvious target for criticism, the injury coming in the most unnecessary of moments with the game already out of sight from a Bucs perspective.
Bucs journalist Jon Ledyward expressed the anger in clear words, writing on X: “And now Godwin is injured completely unnecessarily. A coaching disaster class by Todd Bowles tonight. Gross negligence.”
Ledyard later added: “I’m actually furious. Didn’t need to happen. Completely pointless. After Mike Evans was out on the field clearly injured. In a contract year for Godwin too. Having an amazing season. Completely let down by his coach. Awful.”
One Bucs fan commented: “Godwin is a free agent after this season. Todd Bowles just cost him generational money and job security. What do you even say to a man after that? Irredeemable.”
Godwin’s devastating injury came on a night in which the Bucs also lost wide receiver Mike Evans who left the game in the first half with a hamstring injury. The duo have been on fire this season, combining for 821 receiving yards and 10 touchdowns.
GettyMayfield lost his top two receivers in one game[/caption]
GettyBowles has come under fire for putting Godwin in harm’s way[/caption]
Godwin’s 511 receiving yards this season ranks 6th in the NFL and out of contract at the end of the year, the 2017 3rd round pick appeared to be heading in the direction of a massive new deal.
Sadly, there is far more uncertainty now.
The Bucs dropped to 4-3 on the season with Monday night’s 41-31 loss and without their two top offensive weapons for the foreseeable future, there are understandable concerns as to where a promising season is headed.
Emotions are high directly in the moment, but many fans and casual NFL viewers alike immediately called for Bowles’ job.
One fan wrote on X: “Chris Godwin just destroyed his leg on an ultimately meaningless play in a game the Bucs were not going to make up 10 points in less than a minute. Todd Bowles needs to own that. There’s no reason your players should be put in that position.
“FIRE TODD BOWLES TONIGHT,” another fan put it in more brutal terms.
A third wrote: “I can’t believe Todd Bowles really just destroyed the with 40 seconds left just to try and lose by a little less after already losing Mike Evans earlier. Just like week 1 when we lost Winfield on the last play of the game in a game that was already over.”
Former Steelers safety Ryan Clark, however, provided a passionate defence of Bowles speaking on ESPN:
“You sign up to go win games, you are paid for what you do each day, every single second of every single minute of every single game.
“Todd Bowles never wants that team to think he gave up on them. And those players and the people in those helmets never want Todd Bowles to think that they don’t believe that they have a chance to win.
“This team was down 34-10, so to have fought back the way they did, to only be down 10 points, you do have a belief. And you want to finish. You work all week for three hours. And if all you’re asking me to do to make all this money to play this kid’s game is to play for all 60 minutes? Or play until there’s 00:00 on the clock?
“That’s what I’m going to do. And Chris Godwin, god bless him, I know how hard it is to deal with an injury, but that’s where he wanted to be. He wanted to be on that field.”
Bowles himself said after the game: “It’s unfortunate he got hurt and we feel bad about that. But he’s a football player and he wanted to be in the game.”
The Bucs host the Atlanta Falcons in Week 8 where they will look to get back on track with a severely weakened offensive cast.
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