Indianapolis Colts Media Conference

Sunday, November 26, 2023

Indianapolis, Indiana, USA

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Coach Todd Bowles

Visitors Postgame Press Conference


Colts - 27, Buccaneers - 20

Q. (Inaudible)?

COACH BOWLES: We're together as a unit. We've got to stop making silly mistakes. We work as hard as anybody in the league if not more. We have seen things a thousand times at this point. The young guys can't make the mistakes they make, and we have to make plays.

We understand where we are. We're trying to get a win. We're not worried about anything else, we're trying to get a win. Crazy as it sounds, we're one game out of first place, but the way we're playing, it's got to be turned around. Got to be turned around.

It feels like we're 10 games out, and we're one game out, but we've got to play better. And we understand that as a unit.

Q. (Question about Baker Mayfield's ankle)?

COACH BOWLES: He finished the rest of the game. I'll have to wait until he gets checked out and see how bad it is after the game after he puts it up. That will be the tell tale sign.

Q. (Inaudible)?

COACH BOWLES: You always miss the starter. At the same time, we have guys that could have made plays. We messed up in there in certain areas in there where he didn't have to be involved. But you're going to miss one of your best players all the time.

Q. Baker was sacked six times. How much is on him and how much is on the offensive line?

COACH BOWLES: I'll have to look at the tape to see that. I didn't really see it all.

Q. What happened with the tight end? You had that one play --

COACH BOWLES: We missed a coverage. Everybody sold out for the run and we missed a coverage.

Q. (Indiscernible) made the tackle (inaudible)?

COACH BOWLES: No, it wasn't.

Q. (Inaudible)? How beat up is he? (Indiscernible)?

COACH BOWLES: Not more beat up than anybody that's played all these games. Everybody is beat up. Everybody on their team is beat up. You've got to play. He's a warrior; he's going to play.

Q. (Inaudible)?

COACH BOWLES: They did absolutely nothing on Vita. They doubled him a few times but other guys that should have made plays that could have made plays but didn't.

Q. (Indiscernible)? What's the overall problem with scoring?

COACH BOWLES: We've got to punch it in. We've got to execute, whether it's a penalty, whether it's a missed pass or sack, we've got to be on the same page at the same time. Parts of the game we look very functional; other parts of the game we don't. We've got to tie it up together if we are going to win any more ball games.

Q. (Inaudible)? He finished the game. Do you expect him to play next week?

COACH BOWLES: Hopeful right now. Without getting x-rays and tests like that, I'll see how he feels. If he can play he probably will.

Q. (Inaudible) come off the field after that. Do you have any status?

COACH BOWLES: Not at this time.

Q. Or do you know what kind of injury it is?

COACH BOWLES: Not at this time.

Q. At the end of the day, first-and-goal at the 1, you don't score with the opening drive. So many chances in the red zone. Is that the thing, you're just not finishing drives?

COACH BOWLES: Not finishing drives, and today leaky up the middle in the run game. Everybody had their phases where they could have been better. It was a total team effort that lost the ball game.

But we've got to start punching those in. The good teams do. If we want to be a good team we've got to start punching those in. We've got to stop the run.

Q. (Question about Gardner Minshew)?

COACH BOWLES: We didn't make plays. I didn't think the tackling was outstanding on a couple of those plays. We have to see tape to see what happened but we misfit a couple of runs that let them out and we had guys unblocked. Gotta play better than that on defense.

Q. (Question about discipline on the offense end)?

COACH BOWLES: It wasn't the crowd, definitely. We get penalties at the wrong time. I don't know, we didn't have that many overall today, but the ones we had killed us.

Q. (Inaudible)? Do you have any sense as to whether they'll play this coming week?

COACH BOWLES: Not at this time .

Q. Wingfield drops an interception, Trey Palmer drops a ball. Those plays (inaudible)?

COACH BOWLES: At this point in the year you have to make those plays to win ball games. There were a bunch of plays like that that we need to make to win that ball game. We had our chances, but we've got to make plays.

Q. What's the most frustrating part about (inaudible)?

COACH BOWLES: It was frustrating because you're losing. But we play hard, and nobody's hanging their head and nobody's down and out. The frustrating part is not making plays when you have a chance to make plays, and we've seen things a thousand times. And we just gotta make them.

Q. Can you talk about Mike Evans? He got in the end zone twice today.

COACH BOWLES: Mike plays -- Mike's going to show up every week. Mike's a warrior. He's one of the guys that leads us. He's been like that his whole career. Can't say enough about the guy.

Q. (Question about Payne Durham).

COACH BOWLES: Heck of a catch. He's a big guy, big red-zone target. He was like that in college. Hopefully that's the start of things to come.

Q. (Inaudible)?

COACH BOWLES: He's definitely earned that opportunity.

Q. (Inaudible)?

COACH BOWLES: Went back out there. I'm assuming he's okay.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
139410-1-1045 2023-11-26 21:31:00 GMT

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