Following the Buccaneers’ 20–18 loss in Pittsburgh that dropped them to 3–3 on the season, coach Todd Bowles questioned his team’s motivation in a scathing appraisal of the game.
“We didn’t take them lightly, No. 1,” Bowles said in the postgame press conference, per ESPN’s Jenna Laine. “No. 2, I think guys that are living off the Super Bowl are living in a fantasy land. You’ve gotta get your hands dirty and go to work like everybody else. We’ve been working hard, and we’ve gotta work harder. Nobody’s gonna give us anything. Nobody’s gonna feel sorry. We’ve gotta go back as coaches, as players. … The time for talking is over. You either gotta put up or shut up.”
Tampa Bay’s offense struggled for much of the game, particularly in the red zone, where they scored just once in four trips.
“We didn’t earn it,” quarterback Tom Brady said after the game. “We didn’t earn the win. It’s a game of earning it, and it’s a game of playing well and performing well, and we’re just not doing a good job of that. I don’t think we’ve done it for six weeks. I think we’re all playing less than what we’re capable of. We’ve all gotta look at ourselves in the mirror and figure out why.”
Tampa Bay plays at Carolina (1-5) next Sunday as the Bucs look to put another frustrating loss behind them and improve offensively against an NFC South rival being led by an interim coach.
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