Todd Bowles didn’t stay up late to see if the Tampa Bay Buccaneers got the help they needed to reach the NFL playoffs.
The Bucs (9-7) have been in playoff mode for over a month, winning five of their last six games to climb to the top of the NFC South.
They can secure their fourth straight division title next Sunday with a win or tie at home against New Orleans. They can also win the title if Atlanta loses or ties against Carolina in the Falcons’ regular-season finale.
“Very fortunate,” Bowles said Monday about the Bucs being back in control of their playoff chances.
“It was a good ballgame, went back and forth,” Bowles added. “But to have a chance to control our own destiny is all we can ask for, so we have to go out and take it.”
This sounded like Bowles had stayed up to watch the Falcons lose to the Washington Commanders in overtime, which put Tampa Bay ahead of them in the division by a game.
However, Bowles said that wasn’t the case.
“I was actually asleep,” the coach said. “But I saw the results this morning and I’m good. I saw the highlights and everything this morning.”
Bowles might have felt reassured by how the Bucs played in their 48-14 win over the Carolina Panthers, which put them in a position to benefit from the Falcons’ loss.
In addition to Baker Mayfield throwing for 359 yards and five touchdowns without an interception, the Bucs rushed for 202 yards.
Atlanta holds the tiebreaker advantage if the two division rivals end up with the same record.
How does Bowles expect his team to handle the chance to finish the job?
“They have to do the little things right. They shouldn’t respond any other way than they responded (Sunday),” Bowles said. “We have to do the little things right. It’s a division opponent, we know it’s going to be a dog fight.”
