Todd Bowles
Discusses game-winning drive.
Todd Bowles isn’t about to take credit for the gutty performance the Bucs had Monday night, specifically the final game-winning drive.
What Bowles will take some credit for is making sure the Bucs, since the start of training camp, focused heavily on their two-minute offense.
He believes that work has paid off the past two weeks as the Bucs are 2-0, winning both road games on touchdown drives the last time they touched the ball. But Bowles still admired players comong through so clutch when the team needed to win.
“It was a heck of a job of situational football,” Bowles said of the final drive. “Baker on the fourth-and-10, using his legs to get the first down, that kind of catapulted everything from there.
“Everything we practiced, everything we talked about, everything we’ve done about finishing the ball game, they did a heck of a job finishing.”
It’s been a while since Joe has seen a quarterback simply will his team to a win like Mayfield did last night. The pass blocking had crumbled after Luke Goedeke left and it only got worse as the game grew old.
That set the stage for the comeback: the two-minute drill. That’s something Bowles said the team has worked on constantly in practice since the beginning of underwear football season.
“We practice it all the time, starting in the spring,” Bowles said. “We go through, try to go through every scenario and put them in every situation possible. From the best to the worst. Just constant repetition and repetition.”
The game-winning drive, Bowles said, was an example of “guys believing in each other. They did a heck of a job pulling it out.”
After Goedeke’s injury, Mayfield had scant time to throw, which all but cut off his deep throws. He had to buy time a lot. By doing so, he took a beating.
Mayfield simply has an uncanny ability to pick up a key first down with his legs when the chips are down. Rarely is that a first option but he somehow gets the job done.
That 15-yard scramble on fourth down in the two-minute drill, notice the tumble Mayfield took, landing on his back (video below). And he was beaten to a pulp before that but kept on picking himself up off the turf.
Dang, Mayfield is going to be one sore SOB when he wakes up this morning.
Bucky Irving was clutch on that drive, as well, with two excellent runs after the catch, pinballing off defenders.
Put Baker Mayfield in the football guy Hall of Famepic.twitter.com/qJ5onMkRyn
— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) September 16, 2025