Todd Bowles’ Late-Game Decision To Play Starters Ignites Fiery Debate Following Chris Godwin Injury

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The terrible and ugly dislocated ankle Tampa Bay Buccaneers receiver Chris Godwin suffered near the end of Monday night’s loss to the Baltimore Ravens has people taking sides about coach Todd Bowles.

Bowles, you see, made decisions about his starters throughout the 41-31 loss – none more consequential than leaving them all in for the final minute of a game that odds say was already lost.

Chris Godwin Out For Season

With 1:04 left to play, needing a touchdown, a successful onside kick which the rules state must be announced, and then another score, to tie or lead, Bowles had all his starters on the field.

Godwin caught a 21-yard pass and was tackled by Ravens linebacker Roquan Smith. He dislocated his ankle.

And he is out for the rest of the season.

So should Bowles still have had his starters in the game? Or should he have waved the white flag and started planning for Sunday’s key divisional matchup against the Atlanta Falcons?

Note the grilling Bowles got from reporters about it and you decide:

Bowles Grilled At Press Conference

Q. Coach, you’re down 10; no timeouts; under a minute. You would need a score, onside kick, another score. Why is Chris Godwin in the game at that point?

Bowles: “Well, he’s a player. We’re trying to win the ballgame. We were still down 10, we’re trying to get extra points and kick another onside kick. It just happened. With Mike [Evans] going down, we didn’t have that many receivers left as it was, so we play what we got.”

Q. Isn’t that even more perhaps important to preserve Chris Godwin for the Falcons?

Bowles: “You could say that because he got hurt. We don’t second guess. We got our guys, we’re playing everybody we got. It’s unfortunate he got hurt, and we feel bad about that, but he’s a football player, and he wanted to be in the game just like Baker [Mayfield] and everybody else.”

Q. Don’t you have an obligation to protect your players from themselves?

Bowles: “I do protect my players all the time. That has nothing to do with why we left him in the ballgame. We still had a shot to score some points and win the ballgame. It happened. It happens in football.”

Chris Godwin Out For Season

Look, let’s agree on one thing before embarking on a debate with equal sides of passion and reason: It is terrible Godwin was injured. He was having a great season, with an NFL high 50 receptions, the moment he was injured.

But now Godwin has a surgery and long rehabilitation ahead. And because he’s a receiver, there is no guarantee he will have the same speed and explosion he had before the injury when he returns.

So should Bowles have pulled his starters?

The sheer improbability of the comeback Bowles was chasing suggests he should have pulled his stars. ESPN analytics, which we’re using because the folks at OutKick analytics are slackers and not fast enough for our purposes, estimated Tampa Bay’s win probability at .01 percent.

So there was basically no chance. An NFL coach who has and takes advice from analytics people in-game would or should know this. 

Bowles also should have figured that, going forward, he might not have Mike Evans because he left the game with a hamstring injury after re-aggravating the injury that he started the game with in the first half.

All those factors suggest Bowles blew it.

Bowles Coaching ‘Malpractice?’

That’s what one side of the aisle is upset about now. And, yes, social media is alight with opinions Bowles should have gone a different direction.

The respected Pewter Report, which covers the Buccaneers on a daily basis, called Bowles’ decision “malpractice.”

The idea that the club only had four healthy receivers available is an excuse Bowles used. But if the Bucs had read the proverbial tea leaves prior to the game and seen Evans limping around with a soft-tissue injury that historically re-aggravates, they would have had more receivers available.

Perhaps they should have deactivated Evans and played a healthy receiver.

That would have solved the numbers crunch when Evans predictably suffered his re-aggravation.

Football Played Until End

There is, however, the other side. The football side.

Football teams play football. That may come as a revelation, but it is true.

And winning teams don’t often yield when they’re down 10 points with 1:34 to play, which is how much time was left when the Bucs got the ball back for their final possession.

Everyone is focused on the 41 seconds remaining when Godwin got injured. But he was in the game and there were no substitutions from the moment the drive started with 1:34 to play.

And, of course, Bowles didn’t have the benefit of the second-guess in making his decisions. 

If Godwin simply walks away from that fateful play without a dislocated ankle and nothing else happens, no one questions Bowles for having his stars in the game in a practically hopeless situation.

The fight-until-the-end people love the coach. And we’re on to the next game.

Bucs Seeking WR Help

Now, the debate will rage with no real settlement. The sides are entrenched.

And only this is certain: The Bucs need receiver help if they want to continue to be relevant in the NFC South. 

General manager Jason Licht was working into the early hours of Tuesday looking for wide receiver help.

That may come by signing a free agent, or a receiver on someone’s practice squad, or making a trade.

“We’ll definitely look and see what’s out there,” Bowles said.