Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Ten NFL teams made head coaching changes this offseason, including two who made the playoffs in 2025. Despite missing out on the postseason, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers opted to stick with Todd Bowles, who’s in his fifth season as their head coach. Yet, after a 0-2 start, some might say Bowles’ seat is getting warmer. This week, the Buccaneers are back at home, hosting the 2-0 Minnesota Vikings, but one Hall of Fame legend suggests the vibes are already sour in Tampa Bay.
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Ronde Barber Goes Off on Current Tampa Bay Buccaneers Culture
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Sep 20, 2026; Tampa, Florida, USA; Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Todd Bowles during the second half against the Cleveland Browns at Raymond James Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images
As they say, winning cures all, and the Buccaneers haven’t been able to get into the victory column yet this season. Naturally, the organization isn’t walking on sunshine heading into Week 3.
Recently, retired Buccaneers legend Ronde Barber was very critical of his former team on his streaming show on WFLA. Barber retired at the end of the 2012 season, but now he works inside One Buc Palace, and he has some interesting things to say about the bad “mood” inside team headquarters right now.
“Look, the mood is not great. There’s too many mistakes. There’s a lack of urgency, if you will, in my mind when I look at them going onto the field. There’s got to be a little bit of a sense of a defining characteristic of your team through Week 2. I don’t know what that is. It’s mistakes. It’s busts. It’s lack of execution. Week 2 can’t be the fifth preseason game. At some point you have to start hitting your stride. And it doesn’t feel like they’re in their stride right now on either side of the ball. I feel like for much of the secondary, especially the coverage unit, they’re so focused on what they’re trying to do, that they don’t know how to do it now.”
Ronde Barber on Tampa Bay Buccaneers
As if that wasn’t harsh enough, Barber then took the opportunity to bash one of the team’s free agency signings, linebacker Alex Anzalone, who signed a two-year, $17 million contract in March. Yet, Anzalone has been getting plenty of criticism for being sluggish in coverage and missing tackles in the open field. Barber believes something is off, but he admittedly can’t put his finger on what it is.
“There’s some dynamic going on, whether it’s not understanding what his role is in the defense, not understanding angles, maybe not having enough tackles in the preseason, I don’t know what it is. Something is hamstringing this defense in critical moments.”
Maybe the Buccaneers just need more time on task to gel as a unit, but in the NFL, 0-2 can quickly turn to 0-3, and that’s not an easy hole to dig out of. Next up are the Vikings, Packers, then Cowboys. Last year, a 3-0 start wasn’t good enough to help the Bucs reach the playoffs, and starting out with a losing streak certainly won’t help their chances this year either.