A stoic Todd Bowles stepped to the podium for his day-after-game press briefing Monday, and if you were looking for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach to crack a smile, this wasn’t the time or the place. 

For the first time this season, Bowles had to answer questions about a loss, and he was clearly still dealing with the sting of his team’s mistake-ridden, 31-25 setback to the undefeated Philadelphia Eagles, dropping the Bucs to 3-1 but still atop the NFC South standings.

Bowles begins Week 5 of the 2025 season still seeking solutions to problems that continue to plague the Bucs – falling behind early (trailing for the fourth consecutive week after either their opponent’s opening drive – and on Sunday their own first possession), critical special teams errors, and the mounting injuries.  

Though the team regained the services of star offensive tackle Tristan Wirfs and standout receiver Chris Godwin against the Eagles, they missed the center of their passing attack, All-Pro Mike Evans, who will be out several more weeks with a hamstring injury. They’ve already lost defensive end Calijah Kancey for the season with a pectoral injury, and on Sunday a spate of injuries forced various players out of the game.

Bowles would only say of the injuries “we’re still processing the information and a couple of them have got to get MRIs. So, it’s going to be probably not until later on this afternoon."

How many? "Quite a few. I can’t even name them all,” he replied.

However, Bowles did allow that one of injured was playmaking tailback Bucky Irving, who contributed a 72-yard touchdown reception from Baker Mayfield in the third quarter that brought the Bucs within striking distance, and amassed 165 total yards. "Yeah, he's one of them," was all Bowles would say. No further information was disclosed on Irving or anyone else, but losing him for any amount of time – especially with Evans out – would be a major blow to the offense.

Pending MRI results, Bowles and his coaching staff will have a better idea of the lineup the Bucs will field Sunday against Seattle. Kickoff is scheduled for 4:05 pm ET, but the Mariners playing at home in the MLB postseason could affect that. Stay tuned.

The stingy Seahawks defense is allowing 16.8 points per game and Seattle has outscored its opponents by 11 points per game, with new quarterback Sam Darnold sporting a 106.5 passer rating and amassing 905 yards in four games.

It will be another difficult test for the Tampa Bay defense, which has struggled to find its footing, allowing the Falcons, Texans, and Jets offenses to score on their first drives of the game. The Eagles did as well – after taking a 7-0 lead by blocking Riley Dixon’s punt and returning it for a touchdown. With quarterback Jalen Hurts controlling the first-half flow, the lead ballooned to 24-3 before the Bucs defense shut  down the Eagle offense in the second half.

Asked about his thoughts on the slow defensive starts, Bowles replied, “We come out well, it’s just a different guy here or there that busts an assignment that causes a play to get going. Then, it’s another guy the next play, and another guy the next play, and before you know it they’ve got seven points.”

More than anything else, Bowles pointed to one issue that could help reverse the trend.

"It’s accountability,” he said. “I mean, it takes coaches and players. The leaders have got to step up, the coaches have got to step up, and each player within themselves has to step up."

Here are the other talking points from Bowles:

On the injuries:

(On what happened on the blocked punt attempt against Philadelphia)

"It wasn’t really a stunt. We didn’t help out like we should have and it shouldn’t have happened. It was a very routine play."

(On if blocking was mainly the issue on the blocked punt)

"Yeah."

(On if blocking was also the issue on the team’s first blocked punt versus Houston)

"It really doesn’t matter. They’re all bad. Whether they block it from the outside or the inside, it can’t happen. Those are things that cannot happen for us to have guys on our punt team that are here strictly for special teams."

(On what his solution for the special teams woes are)

"We’re working on it. We’ve got solutions."

(On if the special teams breakdowns are a lack of attention to detail or if it’s something different each time)

"(It’s) something different, but it’s all bad, and we’ve got to correct that."

(On if Dixon is punting the ball fast enough)

"He can speed it up, too."

(On if he can clarify how they’re looking to improve the special teams performance)

"Right now, we’re looking at all avenues to improve our special teams."

(On if Bowles is looking at personnel or at coaching for how to improve the special teams unit)

"All inclusive. It’s coaching. It’s personnel. It’s all inclusive. It’s never just one."

(On the defense’s second-half performance against Philadelphia, and if any adjustments were made at halftime)

"We didn’t really adjust, we just stopped making the mistakes that we made in the first drive and. Those were day one things that we can’t have that have probably started the last four games for us on defense and then we start playing after that. After that, we were fine and they settled down and played ball. We’ve got to start the game like that. We can’t just pick it up as it goes."

(On the defensive approach against Hurts in second half compared to the first half, specifically in terms of blitz rate)

"There were different blitzes, but it was the same in the second half. I mean, he’s a good runner. He’s a good football player. He made some plays and he outran some of our bigger guys and we couldn’t catch him. We misfit one or two spy plays and you got to give him credit for that."

(On if he’s concerned about depth at cornerback with injuries to Jamel Dean and Benjamin Morrison)

"I’m a little concerned. I mean, they both went down and didn’t come back. So, those are two (players) also getting MRIs."

(On how concerning it is that defensive lineman Greg Gaines left with a pectoral injury)

"It’s concerning. I mean, we’re running out of bodies, but we’ll find somebody to play."

(On if the long flight to Seattle this week impacts injury decisions)

"I mean, we’ll see as the week goes. We’ll see who comes back, we’ll see who’s minor, we’ll see who’s major, and we’ll adjust accordingly. That’ll adjust practice accordingly, as well as flying."

(On if cornerback Jacob Parrish might start at outside cornerback if both Dean and Morrison can’t play)

"That’s an option. We’re still early in the process on that. We’re going to wait till everything comes back and then we’ll start moving pieces around."

(On nose tackle Vita Vea recording 2.0 sacks)

"We had the spy guy in the right place and made (Hurts) held on to the ball a little bit longer, so they were more coverage sacks because they were covered in the back end. We knew Vita could press the pocket. They didn’t let (Hurts) outside the pocket so (Vea) made some plays there."

(On Vea’s effort level when he chased Philadelphia QB Jalen Hurts on Hurts’ long run in the first quarter)

"I saw a smaller, faster guy outrun a bigger, slower guy and we need to have more guys rallying to the football. It’s an athletic thing – he’s a good athlete and he’s a good quarterback. You’re not going to catch him with the interior (linemen) if he gets outside."

 (On WR Kameron Johnson’s success the punt returner this season)

"The holdups have been good on the outside and they’ve been doing a good job in the interior."

(On defensive linemen Elijah Roberts and Elijah Simmons stepping up)

"Elijah is coming on – he’s coming on (really) well. Obviously, with the pass rush he’s coming along, but he’s coming along in the run game and he’s playing fast. [Simmons is a powerful guy. We thought he did some really good things in the game yesterday and, we’ve got to give him some more time. As he gets the system down, you’ll probably see more of them."

(On seeing the Eagles score off of variations of the tush push formation, and how much the team was preparing to see the tush push in Week 4)

"No more than our normal short yardage Friday that we go over. We didn’t spend extra time on it, if that’s what you’re asking me. We didn’t spend extra time on it. We knew what we had to do, we knew what they were going to do. It just didn’t come up."

(On if the team will devote more time to special teams in practice)

"It’s not a time thing. It’s definitely not a time thing. It’s attention to detail."