Former NFL Exec: Bucs HC Bowles An “Upgrade” Over Arians

During a recent appearance on ESPN’s Get Up former New York Jets general manager Mike Tannenbaum raised some eyebrows. When the NFL front office veteran was asked what his expectations were for new Bucs head coach Todd Bowles here is what he said.

“Sky high. I actually think they got better at head coach. At the head coach position this year. I worked with Todd Bowles. He is outstanding. And I’ll take it a step further guys. If you compare the resume of Bill Belichick when he left Cleveland and Todd Bowles when he left New York, I’m hard-pressed to find a difference. And I think Todd Bowles is an upgrade over Bruce Arians. This team is going to play differently.”

“I’ve worked with defensive head coaches like Rex Ryan, Bill Parcells, Bill Belichick, Eric Mangini. The way they coached the game, the way they manage the game is differently. This team will make less mistakes. They will have less turnovers. I think they will have less penalties. And I think Todd Bowles is an upgrade over Bruce Arians. And because of that I think they will have a real chance to win the Super Bowl this year.”

That’s extremely high praise for the Bucs new head coach. And while Bowles has shown himself to be a talented football mind, he still only has one season with a winning record out of four as a head coach. Meanwhile Bruce Arians is a two-time NFL Head Coach of the Year and has a career .624 winning percentage, a 6-3 career playoff record and a Super Bowl championship.

Tannenbaum’s Reasoning Regarding Bowles

Tannenbaum has some interesting reasoning as to why Bowles will be an improvement upon his predecessor. He lists turnovers and penalties as two areas that he expects improvement in under Bowles. That’s a bit curious though. In 2021 the Bucs ranked tied for eighth in the league with just 19 turnovers. In 2020 they were tied for seventh with just 17. The Bucs did rank last in the league in turnovers in 2019 with 41, but that was more due to the quarterback position than the head coach.

As for penalties, the Bucs ranked tied for 10th in 2021 with 97. In 2020 they were 23rd with 100 penalties enforced against. And in 2019 they were 32nd with 134. It stands to reason penalties are an area that can be improved upon.

But if you break it down by which side of the ball the penalties occurred on, you become less optimistic that Bowles is the guy to make things better. Looking at just defensive penalties and the Bucs ranked dead last in 2021 with 56. They were dead last in defensive penalties the year before with 58. And in 2019 they were second-to-last with 59. It would seem that if Bowles was going to improve the Bucs penalty tendencies, he would have shown an ability as a defensive coordinator.

Tannenbaum alluded to a third general point in making his case that is quite interesting though. When talking about the philosophies of defensive-minded coaches he said they manage the game differently. If this means a more aggressive approach on fourth down, it could lead to a more high-powered offense. And that could help him build off of the fantastic baseline Arians has created. But let’s pump the brakes on such outlandish claims as “better than Bruce Arians” and “comparable to Bill Belichick” for now. Time will ultimately tell.

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