Todd Bowles Gives Ted Hurst A Thumbs-Up, So Far
June 5th, 2026
Promising trait.
Refreshingly on Tuesday, Kitkat-eating Bucs coach Todd Bowles was in no mood to gas up players because they made a play or two in underwear football.
(Joe sometimes gets frustrated by properly describing how underwear football truly is flag football. The only difference is players wear helmets. Joe still gets questions about offensive linemen in underwear football. Maybe Joe should quit using the word “football” because that’s *nothing* like what Joe sees on the practice field when players are mandated to only wear shorts/sweat pants and tees/sweatshirts. Hitting is strictly verboten.)
It’s “flag football,” Bowles said more than once. Wait until the pads come on.
Maybe a clearer picture of what Joe sees is should be referred to as “powderpuff football.”
But one local TV reporter was able to pry a morsel of information out of Bowles on Bucs rookie wide receiver Ted Hurst. Again, Bowles would not give the local pen and mic club any analysis on Hurst on the field because — all together now — it is underwear football.
Bowles seems to think Hurst has promising traits.
“Very smart guy,” Bowles said of Hurst. “I mean, we’re throwing a lot at him. He’s very smart.
“We’ll see when it calms down. Usually it takes a day or two every time a new install goes in [for Hurst to calm down.]”
The kicker for Joe is what Bowles said next.
“He doesn’t make the same mistake.”
That is very refreshing. Rookies, especially one coming from the Fun Belt and Georgia State, you’d think there would be a bit of a learning curve. Repetitive mistakes would happen.
Apparently, not so with Hurst.
So while Bowles was very reluctant to give anyone props in underwear football, Joe thinks what Bowles did say about Hurst was actually a lot.
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