Todd Bowles Wary Of “Rat Poison”
October 20th, 2025
Agrees with Nick Saban.
Nearly a decade ago when Nick Saban ruled college football, he thought his Alabama players weren’t giving their best efforts because they were reading too many articles and watching too much BSPN telling them they were an unbeatable team.
Saban deemed the content lifting Alabama to unreachable heights without actually being there to be “rat poison” to players.
That phrase has resurfaced around One Buc Palace of late as Baker Mayfield called all the hype of him being NFL MVP “rat poison.”
Last week, BSPN ranked the Bucs as the best team in the NFL entering Week 7. (Joe thinks partially because BSPN wants to hype tonight’s Bucs’ game with the Lions.)
Todd Bowles tried to tap down those gaudy accolades and was asked last week if he believes in Saban’s “rat poison” philosophy.
“I do [believe the hype is rat poison],” Bowles said. “I understand it, but I do.
“It is only Week 7. We want to be the best and build to be the best – it takes time during the season. To build to be a good team, I think everyone is trying to do that right now.
“Rankings do not matter until the end of the year. Right now, we are just focused on the next game.”
Tonight shuld show if the Bucs might be eating the rat poison or have successfully tuned out the noise.
If the Bucs, banged up as they are on offenseare, can go up to Detroit and steal a win from the Lions, that will tell Joe these Bucs are not buying the hype.
@originsportstv RAT POISON ☠️ #bama #alabama #saban #nicksaban #rolltide #rolltideroll #bamafootball #alabamafootball #originsports #originsportstv #cfb #collegefootball #sports #football #ncaafootball #ncaafb #collegesports #fyp ♬ original sound – Origin Sports