Bucs lose to Vikings on defensive touchdown in OT Roy Cummings, The Tampa Tribune, published 27 October 2014 They wouldn’t have even made it to overtime were it not for him. That’s what veteran Buccaneers guard Logan Mankins told tight end Austin Seferian-Jenkins as he walked with him off the field Sunday, a hand resting on the rookie’s slumped shoulder. Though accurate, Mankins’ words were of little consolation. Less than an hour later, Seferian-Jenkins walked out of Raymond James Stadium alone, his face mostly hidden beneath a red baseball cap and a pair of dark horn-rimmed sunglasses. He had reason to hide. Almost a hero, Seferian-Jenkins finished the day a goat after he lost a fumble that was picked up by Vikings rookie linebacker Anthony Barr and returned 27 yards for the winning touchdown in a 19-13 overtime loss to Minnesota. That the fumble came only a few plays after Seferian-Jenkins scored the Bucs’ only touchdown, one that gave them a short-lived 13-10 lead, was of little consolation, either. “There’s no excuses,’’ Seferian-Jenkins said solemnly. “I have to secure the ball better. I need to take better care of the ball for the benefit of my team. I fumbled and they scored. It’s not good.’’ Little about this game was. Coming off their bye week, the Bucs talked about their return to action as a new beginning, a second chance to change course and get back into an NFC South race that no one seems capable of taking control of. In the end, though, there was little to suggest that the post-bye Bucs are any different than the team that was humiliated twice while losing five of six games before it was given two weeks to heal and regroup. An offense that scored an NFL-low 27 first-half points through its first six games gained just 225 total yards and didn’t score until early in the fourth quarter — on a 54-yard Patrick Murray field goal. A defense that failed four times in its first six games to keep its opponent from scoring on its final possession failed again, surrendering a 38-yard Blair Walsh field goal that forced a 13-13 tie at the end of a nine-play, 61-yard drive that used up the final 2:02 of regulation. Penalties continued to be a problem, as well. After averaging nine penalties per game through their first six games, the Bucs were penalized eight times for 52 yards against the Vikings, including once on a play in which their error wiped out a 30-yard gain. And turnovers remained an issue. The Bucs gave the ball away on their first possession, the result of a Mike Glennon interception, and again on their last. The defense, meanwhile, failed to take the ball away even once, despite at least one very good opportunity. That came midway through the Vikings final possession, on first-and-10 from the Minnesota 49-yard line. Cornerback Johnthan Banks stepped in front of a Teddy Bridgewater pass for Cordarrelle Patterson, but he couldn’t hold on to the ball as he fell to the ground. “In a game like this one, when it’s that tight and when you get a chance to take the ball away — to end the game, really — you have to step up and make that play,’’ Bucs coach Lovie Smith said. “It was one of those plays that coach (Smith) talks about all time,’’ Banks said. “You have to make a play when it’s your turn. I made a good jump on the ball. I just missed it. It’s one I wish I had back.’’ This entire game is one the Bucs would like to have back. It was their fourth straight loss at home — fifth if you go back to last season — and marked the fourth game they’ve lost by six points or fewer. And like Seferian-Jenkins, they put the blame squarely on their own shoulders, admitting it was largely due to their own mistakes that they failed to win what they considered a winnable game. “It’s hard to win, just talking offensively, when you wait that long to get anything going,’’ said Smith, whose offense was held to 97 total yards and converted just one of nine third downs through three quarters. “Part of it was them, but most of it was us. And defensively we played better at times, but at the end, when you have a lead, you have got to be able to close it out, especially at home.’’ That’s the mistake Seferian-Jenkins made when he fumbled. After catching a Glennon pass for 10 yards on the first play of overtime, he was fighting for a few extra yards when Barr stripped the ball, picked it up and ran it in. “You just have to get down in that situation,’’ Smith said. “We had a positive play. In overtime. You’ve got to protect the ball there. That’s Football 101.’’