Todd Bowles hits Buccaneers with blunt reality check after Week 5 loss
10/04/2024 01:42 AM
The Atlanta Falcons did everything they could to hand the game to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers late in the fourth quarter, but the visiting team could not secure the victory. An exciting finish turned what should have been a key divisional triumph for the Bucs into a gut-wrenching 36-30 overtime loss.
The entire locker room knows that it let a W slip right through its grasp. There is no reason to dance around the cause of this downfall.
"We missed too many plays,” Buccaneers head coach Todd Bowles told the media postgame, per Scott Smith. “We can't beat the Falcons and the Bucs." Well said.
Tampa Bay made a few costly missteps in the fourth quarter that extended the game– gave up a sack on third-and-short to settle for a field goal, Bucky Irving fumbled the ball in Atlanta territory, the team committed an offensive holding penalty on its final offensive drive and the defense allowed Kirk Cousins to carve up the field. The Falcons offset many of these mistakes with their own head-scratching blunders, but a favorable coin toss and an amazing performance by Cousins (509 passing yards, four touchdowns) enabled them to survive.
Fittingly, one final error clinched the defeat for the Buccaneers, as cornerback Zyon McCollum missed a tackle on the game-winning 45-yard touchdown by ultimate underdog KhaDarel Hodge. Although it is still early in the season, this outcome could be a difference-maker after Week 18. The Bucs can learn from this matchup, though.
Buccaneers are showing some promise despite their shortcomings
As it stands, they did plenty of things well, and in hostile territory no less. Quarterback Baker Mayfield tossed three touchdowns, running back Rachaad White averaged 7.2 yards per carry, wide receiver Mike Evans scored twice, including his 100th career TD, and the defense sacked Cousins four times.
Aside from a rough outing versus the Denver Broncos, Tampa Bay has looked like a legitimate squad this year (maybe even more so than last season). Todd Bowles knows what his team is capable of accomplishing when it stays out of its own way.
"We've got a good football team,” he said. “We didn't finish the game."
The Buccaneers (3-2) have 10 days to decipher where it all went wrong before they take the field for another NFC South Clash on the road, this time against the New Orleans Saints (2-2).
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