When it mattered, Bucs couldn’t get out of own way Martin Fennelly, The Tampa Tribune, published 6 October 2014 It would have been a terrific win. It should have been a terrific win. It was a horrible loss. “We just let one go,” Bucs defensive tackle Gerald McCoy said. And how. The Bucs are 1-4. They could have been rolling as much as 2-3 can roll when they left the Superdome on Sunday. They stormed from 13-0 down with 24 consecutive points on Drew Brees and the Saints. They led by 11 points early in the fourth quarter. “We had the Saints right where we wanted them,” Bucs offensive lineman Demar Dotson said. Only there is no such thing as right where the Bucs want you. They lost, of course, 37-31 in overtime, a crushing defeat, trampled by Saints runner Khiry Robinson on his way to the end zone for the game-winning score. Face down in 1-4. Yes, like you, we’re still trying to figure out exactly how Bucs cornerback Johnthan Banks illegally used his hands to get that penalty that kept the Saints’ drive alive in overtime after Brees missed on a third-and-10 pass. Never mind that. “I can’t blame it on the ref,” Banks said. “There were a lot of other plays we could have made and didn’t.” And how. There were a lot of mistakes they made, too, enough for 15 penalties and so much more. There was that ghastly possession that helped opened the door for New Orleans in the fourth quarter. Beginning with first-and-10 from the Bucs 20-yard line: Holding, Dotson, minus 10 yards. Fumble when center snap hits in-motion Vincent Jackson, recovered by Mike Glennon near the goal line, minus 8 yards. Delay of game penalty, half the distance to the goal line. Garrett Gilkey, false start, half the distance, again. On third-and-29 from the Tampa Bay 1, Glennon, sacked for a safety. Yet another bad football Rorschach. A week after rallying in Pittsburgh for its first win, Lovie Smith’s team couldn’t get out of its own way. How many coaching changes will it take to put a lid on the can and put this garbage out for good? We’ve seen this far too often the past several years. “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.” Imagine what a fabulous win it could have been. To come from 13 down against Brees and the Saints and win in a place where the Bucs had been pulverized their past two trips in, including Greg Schiano’s final game — what a stamp this could have put on a new kind of season. Brees had thrown eight touchdowns and no interceptions across the Bucs’ previous two trips here. Brees threw for 371 yards and two touchdowns Sunday, but the Bucs picked him off three times. Linebacker Danny Lansanah returned his for a touchdown. And they lost. By the way, just for fun, we should note that on that overtime play, Banks’ illegal hands were on Saints receiver Robert Meachem, who, while targeted by Brees four times Sunday, did not catch a ball, while nine other Saints did. Yeah, there’s a guy you want to lock down at the line. Just imagine. The Bucs were 0-2 when they began a three-game road swing with a seemingly apocalyptic crushing in Atlanta. Surely they were headed for 0-5. And yet there it was Sunday, right on the Bucs’ plate, a chance to go home 2-3 and somehow be in the middle of the red-hot mess that is the NFC South. You have to win that game. “Yes, we do, there’s no other way around it,” Smith said. Forget the Banks call, Bucs fans. Well, try. “Everybody wants to say ref this, ref that,” McCoy said. “Hey, we got to make the play.” They didn’t make enough of them. The defense made some stops. Glennon threw some beautiful balls on his way to 249 yards and two TDs. But the offense was a comical mess at the end. The exhausted defense was helpless. The Bucs lost the overtime coin toss and that was that. “Right at the end they were just running the football, simple as that, a basic run at the end to win a game,” Smith said. “… At the very worst, make them kick a field goal, don’t let them score a touchdown.” They’re 1-4, simple as that.