Bucs lack finishing touch in 37-31 overtime loss Roy Cummings, The Tampa Tribune, published 6 October 2014 As he stood on the sideline watching overtime unfold in front of him, Mike Glennon was sure he'd get another chance to beat the Saints on Sunday afternoon. He was sure of it right down to the last play, and for good reason, because if there's one thing the Bucs have done consistently this season, it's finish strong on defense. At least, that's how it was until they walked into the Superdome, where seldom-used second-year running back Khiry Robinson finished off a 37-31 Saints victory with an 18-yard game-winning touchdown run on the first possession of overtime. “The offense probably won't blame us because they'll say they could have made a play somewhere, but there's no way,'' Bucs cornerback Alterraun Verner said. “We didn't finish today and that's supposed to be our calling card. We're supposed to carry this team and we didn't do it today, not even in overtime. Even if we just give up three points there, we still have a chance, but we didn't do it. We let them score, so this one's on us.'' It's unusual that it was, even for a team that stands at 1-4. After all, prior to Sunday, the Bucs were playing nothing short of lights-out defensive football down the stretch. Through their first four games, they had allowed just 16 fourth-quarter points and only 284 fourth-quarter yards, which was 112 less than they'd allowed in any other quarter and an average of just 71 per game. During the only overtime possession of Sunday's game, though, Robinson rolled up 34 yards on his own. And it was the way he did it, particularly on the final run, that irritated the Bucs the most. “We just missed too many tackles,'' Verner said. “There were times when we had him stopped in the backfield and he still fell forward, so we did a poor job there. That's one thing that definitely beat us.'' It certainly wasn't the only thing. A flurry of penalties — 15 for 113 yards, including four that wiped out 87 yards worth of Glennon pass completions and three first downs — also cost the Bucs. The penalty that cost them the most was almost certainly the hands-to-the-face call against cornerback Johnthan Banks four plays into the Saints' game-winning drive. Coming on a third-and-10 play from the New Orleans 41-yard line in which quarterback Drew Brees was pressured into throwing an incompletion, it robbed the Bucs of arguably their best chance to get the ball back for Glennon and the offense. “I thought we were off the field,'' Banks said. “I didn't think I'd hit him in the face. But then I saw the flag and I figured it was on us because it was on my side of the field. But you know what? That's football. There were a lot more plays in this game that we still had a chance to get off the field with and make something happen with, and we just didn't do it.'' That's what bothered Bucs coach Lovie Smith the most. It bothered him more than the penalties and even more than the Bucs' late-fourth-quarter offensive implosion, which was about as bothersome as it gets. Coming after the Saints had reduced the Bucs' lead from 11 points to five, 31-26, the implosion started with — what else? — a penalty, this one a holding call on guard Logan Mankins on first-and-10 from the Bucs' 20-yard line. On the next play, center Evan Dietrich-Smith's shotgun snap to Glennon bounced off the arm of wide receiver Vincent Jackson, who had gone in motion, resulting in a fumble that Glennon covered at the 2. Two more penalties, one for delay of game and one for a false start, followed before Doug Martin ran for no gain on second down, setting up a third-and-29 at the 1. On that fateful play, Glennon was sacked almost immediately. The safety reduced the Bucs' lead to three points, which Saints kicker Shayne Graham covered with a 44-yard field goal one series later. Even through all that, the defense continued to hold, with Verner eventually picking off Brees to end the Saints' final regulation threat. They just couldn't hold on in overtime. “I feel like we had an opportunity to steal a game,'' Smith said. “Whenever you get up like that on the road, you've got to be able to finish the job. So, it's disappointing how we finished. When they have 80 yards to go, you've got to make a play. At the worst, you have to make them kick a field goal. You can't give up a touchdown. So the finish is disappointing, and it's all about the finish.''