Wife of Tampa Bay Buccaneers' Chris Godwin says coach Todd Bowles is 'blatantly lying' about receiver's opportunities

A year ago, Chris Godwin and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers snuck into the playoffs with an 8-9 record after winning the NFC South in the first year under coach Todd Bowles’ direction. A year later, the Bucs enter Week 14 with a 5-7 record, with their playoff hopes still alive, but fading fast after losing six of their past eight games.

There have been several changes from last season to now, including what appears to be a drastically decreasing role for Pro Bowl wideout Chris Godwin.

Chris Godwin’s stats (2022): 142 targets, 104 receptions, 1,023 receiving yards, 3 TD
Godwin’s stats (2023) (15 games played): 85 targets, 53 receptions, 606 receiving yards, 1 TD
Godwin’s pace this season: 120 targets, 75 receptions, 858 receiving yards, 1 TD

Godwin’s snap count is roughly the same as last season, as he’s playing 81 percent of the team’s offensive snaps thus far.

While the Buccaneers won their matchup against the Carolina Panthers 21-18 in Week 13, the organization still faced criticism, thanks to struggling so much offensively against the worst team in the NFL.

Mustering just 21 points is more than the Buccaneers’ scoring average of 19.4 PPG, which ranks 23rd in the NFL. Yet, that’s nowhere near good enough to compete for a playoff spot in 2023.

When there are struggles like the Bucs have experienced, more opinions chime in on how to provide a solution.

One of the areas under the microscope after Sunday’s lackluster offensive performance was questioning how Godwin, a player who’s topped 1,000 receiving yards three times in his career, received just three targets all afternoon.

Here was how Bowles responded on Sunday.

#Bucs WR Chris Godwin had a very important rushing TD yesterday, but it was the only touch he had in the game.

Todd Bowles answered how surprising it was that he didn’t have a catch.

“We were subbing him out a lot. Obviously he’s a little nicked up so he’s not totally 100%.” pic.twitter.com/N5hiR7C2ga
— Matt Matera (@matty4_matera) December 4, 2023

That’s a fairly typical response, right? On the surface, there doesn’t appear to be anything more to look into, as this is a theme we’ve heard from coaches several times over the years. Yet, Chris Godwin’s wife paints a much different picture. Here’s a screenshot of her ‘receipts’ of Godwin’s snaps so far this season.

As others have pointed out, Chris Godwin’s wife Mariah is not happy with Todd Bowles’ explanation for Godwin’s decreasing usage of late. pic.twitter.com/7w9wVOqo3Z
— Greg Auman (@gregauman) December 7, 2023

Clicking on the tweet shown above displays more from Godwin’s wife. This is where it really gets good.

“I’m not sure why we are just blatantly lying here. Regardless of how banged up Chris is, he continues to work his ass off. Hasn’t missed a game. Continues to run great routes & get open. I don’t know why things are the way they are, this isn’t my team to coach. But this lying on Chris & implying negativity on his work ethic is infuriating. Let’s not act like he had to be subbed out so much more than usual when in fact he’s been playing just the same.
Mariah Godwin, wife of Chris

That’s going to be awkward. While Godwin’s wife is right, it’s never a great look to make the head coach of the team look like a liar. Bowles may or may not have done that to himself with his explanation, and now Godwin’s wife has done her best to set the record straight publicly. Meanwhile, Chris has to head back to work today, where he’ll likely hear all about this situation, even though he never said a word about it. Fun.