Sterling Shepard says that Todd Bowles hit the message “right on the head” following the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ 29-28 loss to the Atlanta Falcons. (Photo by Cooper Neill/Getty Images)
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People may not be high on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers right now, but Sterling Shepard knows his team is battle tested.
The Buccaneers have won four straight division titles and have made it to the playoffs in five consecutive seasons. That’s the longest playoff streak in the NFC and it’s the longest consecutive division titles streak in franchise history.
Tampa Bay is 7-7 right now and tied with the Carolina Panthers for the top spot in the NFC South. The Buccaneers have lost two straight games and six of their last eight games since starting out the season 5-1. That’s in part due to injuries to key players – Mike Evans and Tristan Wirfs – and a lack of execution on their end.
With that being said, the Buccaneers are starting to get healthier with Evans and Wirfs returning during Tampa Bay’s Week 14 loss to the Atlanta Falcons. Furthermore, the Buccaneers can clinch the division by winning their three remaining games, which includes two games against the Panthers.
“Just the small details,” Shepard says in a one-on-one interview of the key to wrapping up the division. “When you get this late in the season obviously, most of your playbook has been out there, so teams get a good jump or a good idea about what you guys are going to do. It’s just going to come down to the small details and being on top of everything. That’s what guys are focusing on now is, just not shooting ourselves in the foot, whether it comes to small penalties and the mental part of the game, I think that’s huge for us.”
Tampa Bay held a huge lead over Atlanta, a 28-14 lead early in the fourth quarter before self destructing. The Falcons overcame the deficit and won 29-28. Baker Mayfield threw a costly interception on the side of Atlanta’s field.
Head coach Todd Bowles – who is usually reserved and rarely cusses – issued an expletive-filled rant during the postgame presser. Evans – who was making his return from a broken collarbone – showed visible frustration following the game, slamming his helmet to the ground.
While the Buccaneers haven’t been perfect this season, they’ve been down this road before, clinching the NFC South with eight and nine win seasons during the 2022 and 2023 seasons.
“I think he pretty much hit the message that he gave us, and I felt like that that was spot on with what we needed as a unit,” said Shepard. “We needed to hear those things, and a lot of the times, I think people want to take a softer approach, but I don’t believe so. I think that he hit the nail on the head on what we needed to do to get this thing rolling back in the right direction. We put ourselves in this spot, we have to dig ourselves out.”
Helping matters is the fact that the Panthers haven’t been perfect either, also dropping their Week 15 clash against the New Orleans Saints. Carolina has dropped three of their past five games.
A big reason why the Buccaneers have dominated the NFC South – outside of the division largely being mediocre – is the fact that Tampa Bay is the most talented and veteran-filled team of any squad in the division. For example, Shepard is 32 years old and in his 10th season and is playing the role of a secondary receiver right now with Evans and Chris Godwin back in the fold.
Shepard ranks No. 3 on the team in receptions and receiving yards, forced to play a leading role for much of the season with Evans being limited to five games and Godwin being limited to six games this season.
This 2025 team has multiple holdovers from the Tom Brady era squad that won the Super Bowl during the 2020 season, including Evans, Godwin, Wirfs, Lavonte David and Jamel Dean.
“It’s a lot of guys that have played a lot of football,” said Shepard. “Obviously, we have a pretty young team, but solid pieces to this team. They’ve played a lot of football and a lot of meaningful football. It’s huge for the younger guys to have guys like Mike Evans, to have guys like Lavonte David, Chris Godwin that have played in meaningful football, ”Just so that we can speak to those guys and let them know the importance of what we’re about to enter and the importance of December football. It’s huge having a squad that has guys that have played a lot of ball.”
Sterling Shepard On Novartis & His ‘My Cause, My Cleats’ Campaign
Shepard is speaking on behalf of the “My Cause, My Cleats” campaign, which sees NFL players for one game a year wear sneakers for their cause. For Shepard, his cause for this year is Novartis, which is the NFL’s first pharmaceutical partner.
The cause is personal for Shepard as his father passed away when he was at the age of six due to a heart attack. Novartis encourages fans to have proactive conversations with their doctor about risk factors and heart health.
“I teamed up with Novartis and American Heart Association just to create awareness around being proactive about your health, and consulting your doctor to see your risk factors,” said Shepard. “But it’s something that’s near and dear to my heart. I lost my father at a young age to heart disease. Any way that I can create awareness, I try to do so.”