Super Bowl Champion Defensive End details what went wrong for the Buccaneers in 2022

Not much went to plan for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2022 under first-year head coach Todd Bowles. There was optimism that the Buccaneers wouldn't miss a beat following Bruce Arians decision to move to a front office role and Bowles taking over in his place. After all, he had spent the previous three years under Arians as defensive coordinator and learned what not to do as a head coach during his stint with the New York Jets.

Instead, the Buccaneers regressed on both sides of the ball and failed to show consistency from week to week. Tampa Bay finished 8-9 on the season and was quickly knocked out of the playoffs in the Wild Card Round after a dominating home loss to the Dallas Cowboys. The franchise came up short against five teams that finished the year under .500 (Green Bay, Pittsburgh, Carolina, Cleveland, Atlanta).

It's been a month since the Cowboys ended Tampa Bay's season and that's provided some time to reflect for coaches, players, and fans.

During a recent radio appearance on 95.3 WDAE, Buccaneers defensive end William Gholston went into detail on what went wrong for the team in 2022. In his opinion, he feels like the team struggled to maintain a killer instinct and finish games.

"We didn’t capitalize on our opportunities as much as we did in the years prior,” Gholston said. “We had opportunities in our hands and we didn’t take it. We had games in our hands and we didn’t kill it with a sledgehammer — that type of mindset and mentality."

"Only two things because I know we worked hard; every time we had the chance to practice we worked as hard as we could. We studied as hard as we could," Gholston continued. "We did everything that we needed to do except for those little details: capitalize on your opportunity, have the mentality to kill it with a sledgehammer and just finish.”

It's often said that a team takes on the personality of its head coach. That's not what Gholston directly stated here but the Buccaneers took a clear step in the wrong direction last year. On a team of veterans and a coaching staff built by Arians that won a Super Bowl in 2020, one of the only changes was Bowles being promoted to head coach.

Considering that Tampa Bay's 8-9 record last season actually improved Bowles' career winning percentage as a head coach to .405, maybe he just doesn't have what it takes. He's a great coordinator but his mismanagement of a championship contender coupled with a 34-50 record as a head coach aren't a great sign moving forward.

Gholston is approaching unrestricted free agency following ten years with the Buccaneers. He's coming off a season where he appeared in all 17 games, with nine starts, and totaled 49 tackles, five tackles for loss, and a fumble recovery.

Since being selected by Tampa Bay in 2023, Gholston has totaled 401 tackles, 58 tackles for loss, 19.5 sacks, three forced fumbles, three fumble recoveries, and 12 pass deflections. He appeared in all four games during the Buccaneers playoff run en route to becoming Super Bowl LV.

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