Todd Bowles Explains Bucs Not Going For It on Fourth Down Before Halftime vs. Bills

Buccaneers' head coach Todd Bowles explained his decision to take a penalty and punt the ball before halftime rather than going for it or kicking a field goal.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers dropped their fourth straight game in a row on Thursday night when they lost to the Buffalo Bills 24-18. The score makes it seem that the Buccaneers were actually closer to pulling this one out than how much of the game went. The Buccaneers didn't look to have any steam offensively until well into the fourth quarter before falling short on a Hail Mary attempt with no time left in the game.

There could be a number of things to point to for the reason the Bucs weren't able to pull this one out, but amongst those who watched, including Bucs' fans, there was some questionable head coaching decisions made by Todd Bowles.

READ MORE: Buccaneers Fans React to Rough Thursday Night Football Loss Against Bills

When speaking with the media following the loss, Bowles explained one of those decisions - not going for it on fourth and three on Buffalo's side of the field with under 30 seconds until halftime.

Struggling to score pts. Fourth and 3 at Buffalo 41. Todd Bowles explains why he took a delay of game to punt because if they didn’t make a first down with what would’ve been under 19 seconds, the Bills would’ve had “a field goal in mind.” pic.twitter.com/qP9CTHtzv7

— Rick Stroud (@NFLSTROUD) October 27, 2023

With under 30 seconds, the Buccaneers had multiple options on fourth and 3 from the Buffalo 41-yard line: they could take the delay of game and punt (which they did), attempt about a 58-yard FG, or go for it to try and get into better scoring position while risking the fact Buffalo would get the ball in decent territory.

The caveat is the time left on the clock.

With just under 20 seconds remaining, if the Bucs were to run a play and not get the first down, the Bills still would have major work to do to put themselves in scoring position before half. At that point, the score was 17-10 and the Bucs were still in it even if the Bills did get the ball back there with that amount of time remaining the most they could have done is gotten themselves into FG position for three more points - not something that would kill you being just down 10 at the half.

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Instead, Bowles decided to play it safe, and ultimately nothing came of it.

Moving ahead the fans and those who cover the Bucs and the NFL will be looking to get more out of Bowles as the seat he is currently sitting on continues to get warmer by each passing week.

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