Turnovers Stop Bucs From Keeping Pace in Shootout Loss to Falcons Tampa Bay's offense found new ways to move the ball in Week Eight in the sudden absence of Chris Godwin and Mike Evans, but a trio of turnovers doomed them to fall behind in a high-voltage matchup with the Atlanta Falcons. The Buccaneers gained 432 yards of offense and Baker Mayfield threw for 330 yards even without his top two targets, but his two interceptions inside the Falcons' 10-yard line and a Rachaad White fumble on the second play of the game were enough to seal a 31-26 defeat on Sunday at Raymond James Stadium. With the loss, the Buccaneers dropped to 4-4 and a game behind the 5-3 Falcons in the NFC South race. The Falcons completed the season sweep after a 36-30 overtime win in Atlanta in Week Five and thus essentially have a two-game lead in the division. The Buccaneers have dropped three of their last four and have upcoming games against last year's two conference champions, Kansas City and San Francisco. After slipping back to .500, the Bucs want to avoid the long swoon they encountered in the middle of last season. "It has nothing to do with last year," said Todd Bowles. "It's frustrating because we're making mistakes and beating ourselves. That's the problem we've got to clean up. We can't play ourselves and the opponent. Whether it's the tough ones, the easy ones, no matter who we play the next two weeks, we've got to play better in order for us to win." The Falcons' offense generated 394 yards of offense as Kirk Cousins threw four touchdown passes and, crucially, no interceptions. Atlanta technially committed no giveaways, though a botched-snap fumble in the fourth quarter turned into a safety and helped the Bucs rally to within five points with seven minutes to play. Unfortunately, Atlanta followed TE Cade Otton's second touchdown catch with a field goal drive that ran the clock down to a minute. Younghoe Koo missed a 46-yard field goal attempt, giving the Bucs a chance to win it with a miracle touchdown drive. The Bucs had no timeouts to work with on their final drive but Mayfield got the offense down as far as the Atlanta 33. In the end, a final Hail Mary attempt generated some excitement in the back of the end zone but was eventually incomplete. Despite its self-inflicted wounds, the Buccaneers' offense was impressive without Evans and Godwin. Mayfield completed 37 of 50 passes and completed three or more passes to seven different players. TE Cade Otton had his second prolific outing, following up his 100-yard game against Baltimore with a team-high nine catches for 81 yards and two touchdowns. "I thought they fought, they did some good things," said Bowles. "They had time of possession, they made some plays. You don't like the false start but overall those guys fought hard. Twenty-six points should be enough." The Buccaneers' "three-headed monster" in the backfield continued to produce, as well. RBs Rachaad White, Bucky Irving and Sean Tucker combined for 166 yards from scrimmage and a touchdown. Irving led the way with 84 yards from scrimmage and White scored on an 18-yard pass in the second quarter that briefly gave the Buccaneers a 14-7 lead. The Buccaneers averaged 4.6 yards per carry and Mayfield was not sacked on 50 dropbacks, constituting another strong outing for the offensive line. "We have the talent in this room," said Mayfield. "We moved the ball today. We moved it up and down the field. So we just have to do the little things right. We have to come together as a team, and obviously in an environment we're headed into on Monday night in Kansas City, we know what we're going to get. It's execution, doing the little things right, playing the field position game and see what happens. We have the veterans, we have the leadership we need to make this thing work. The season's not over. We're not even halfway done. Mayfield credited Offensive Coordinator Liam Coen with developing a scheme to keep the offense moving without several key performers. "An unreal job just getting everybody ready, obviously just having different ways to attack them. The run game worked, I though the O-Line played great. He had everybody dialed in. Liam, obviously, calling the plays, but the guys that were in there stepping up and doing their jobs how they're supposed to do so. It just comes down, again, to not shooting ourselves in the foot in critical situations. Defensive lineman C.J. Brewer recorded the first two sacks of his career, and the only two for either team in Sunday's game. He also had a potentially critical third-and-one stop of RB Tyler Allgeier on Atlanta's final drive, but the Cousins was able to get the first down with a sneak on fourth-and-one. The Buccaneers' defense fared quite a bit better in the second half, allowing 146 yards and seven points after giving up 248 yards and 24 points in the first half. It wasn't enough to deliver the victory, however. "It starts with coaching," said Bowles. "It starts with me, it starts with the defensive coaches and it starts with the players. We've got to play better and we've got to fix it. Nobody's coming to save us. We've got to do a hell of a lot better job than we're doing and that starts with me." The lead changed hands twice in the first half but Atlanta took a 24-17 lead into halftime. Both offenses moved the ball well, with Atlanta gaining 248 yards and 13 touchdowns to 238 and 13 for the Buccaneers, but the difference was White's fumble on the second play of the game that gave Atlanta a short field for an opening touchdown. Each team also kicked a field goal within the final two minutes of the half. Cousins' three touchdowns in the half all went for 36 yards or longer. The Falcons also got the ball to start the second half, with chance to open up a double-digit lead. The Bucs' defense got the stop it needed, however, and gave it back to the offense, which drove into Falcons territory with a chance to tie it up. Unfortunately, the Falcons grabbed the momentum right back on Jessie Bates' interception on an attempted fleaflicker trick play. The Bucs' defense got another quick stop but this time another trick play misfired, as a fake-punt snap to DB Tavierre Thomas lost two yards and gave Atlanta the ball in Bucs' territory. That turned into a quick Falcons touchdown drive and a two-touchdown disadvantage the home team couldn't overcome in the end. Bowles didn't have any postgame regret over the two failed trick plays. "No, I don't think those two caused us to lose the game," he said. "I thought defensively we made some boneheaded plays in the first half, and we missed some things and got some penalties on offense in the second half. It's hard when you're playing against the Bucs and the Falcons at the same time. You cannot beat two teams." The Bucs won the toss and elected to receive, starting on their own 30 after a touchback. White got eight yards over right guard on first down and another five going left on the second play, but he lost the ball at the end and the Falcons recovered at the Tampa Bay 43. The Falcons also ran on their first play but DL Calijah Kancey limited RB Bijan Robinson to a gain of one. Two plays later, on third-and-three, the Buc' defesnse sniffed out and blew up a screen pass, but the Falcons elected to go for it on fourth down. Cousins got the needed yards and more as he lobbed a ball over the top to Pitts for a 36-yard touchdown. After another touchback, the Bucs got a first down on a swing pass to Irving for eight yards and Irving's two-yard plunge. White came back in to take the next handoff and went over right tackle for five yards. However, another quick pass to Irving lost three yards, making it third-and-eight. Otton made a nice catch away from his body but was brought down inches shy of the first down. The Bucs rushed up to the line and Mayfield kept it for a two-yard gain. Irving then made several sharp cuts to get into the open field for 15 yards down to the Atlanta 34. The Bucs faced another third down at the 28, needing four yards, and kept it on the ground, with White's counter to the left getting just enough. Irving darted around left tackle on the next play for nine yards to the 15, followed by a sharp cutback by Irving for eight more. With both White and Irving on the field, Mayfield gave it to White going right and he got two. A rollout attempt to Otton was well-covered, making it third-and-goal. Otton released from the end of the line and curled into the end zone and Mayfield fired a low pass into his gut for the game-tying touchdown. Tampa Bay's first kickoff of the game went into the end zone, putting Atlanta at its own 30. On the first play of the drive, Cousins studied the field for a bit then found WR Darnell Mooney in an opening in the zone for a gain of 28 into Bucs territory. Cousins took a shot from Kancey two plays later and threw errantly, making it third-and-eight at the Bucs' 40. A well-timed blitz by David compelled Cousins to throw it away, leading to a Bradley Pinion punt that rolled to a stop at the Bucs' three. RB Sean Tucker got nothing bashing into the middle of the line, so Baker went back to Otton on a quick hitter up the right seam for 11 yards. A pass out to Tucker in the left flat gave him room to run for a first down at the 26. A false start helped back the Bucs into a second-and-12 as the first quarter came to an end. A quick pass left to Palmer got four back and Mayfield looked for Otton again on third down, this time hitting him farther down the seam for a 29-yard catch-and-run. Irving followed with a seven-yard catch and a five-yard run up the middle for a new set of downs at the Atlanta 31. Two short plays put the Bucs into a third-and-six, and this time Otton ran an out to the right sideline and Mayfield fired a laser to him for a gain of nine. On the next play, Mayfield swung it out to White on the left side and he found a seam to the end zone for an 18-yard score. After another touchback, Robinson started the Falcons' third drive with a seven-yard slice to the right, and he was stopped just short of the line to gain on second down. The Falcons gave it to Robinson again on third down and the Bucs' defense got to him quickly but not quick enough to prevent a one-yard run to move the chains. An outlet pass to WR Ray-Ray McCloud got six and an Allgeier run got a first down just across midfield. Cousins hurried the offense back to the line and took a deep shot to Mooney but CB Tyrek Funderburk was there to knock it away at the last second. On the next play, Cousins found Pitts cutting right to left and hit him on the run. Pitts broke away from the defense and sprinted towards the end zone for an apparent touchdown. Winfield appeared to knock the ball out of his hands before Pitts crossed the line but a review of the play did not result in it being overturned. The Bucs' next drive ended in a punt for the first time, in large part due to a puzzling unnecessary roughness call on TE Payne Durham. Mayfield had a shot at McMillan on third down but the two appeared not to be on the same page and the pass hit the turf behind the receiver. Trenton Gill's 42-yard punt and a 14-yard return set Atlanta up at its own 39. Cousins had time to find WR Drake London on a 13-yard curl, then dumped the next pass off to Robinson in the left flat for six more to the Bucs' 42. Robinson got a first down on an eight-yard cutback but an apparent broken play on the next snap led to Cousins sliding down for a loss of three. Two plays later, on third-and-six, Cousins stood in against a collapsing pocket and found Mooney for the 30-yard score and a seven-point lead with two minutes left in the half. The Bucs tried to mount a two-minute drill but Mayfield's first pass was batted down at the line and White's second-year carry got four yards to bring on the two-minute warning. On third-and-six, Mayfield drifted right and threw downfield to Palmer on a long-developing play that resulted in a 25-yard gain to the Atlanta 41. A deep shot to McMillan was just out of the rookie's reach, and a swing pass to White got just three. Mayfield had to check it down to White again over the middle on third down and the play came up three yards short. The Bucs left the offense on the field on fourth down with 1:09 left, but only in an effort to get the Falcons to jump offside. Eventually, the Bucs called a timeout and sent Chase McLaughlin out to try a 52-yard field goal. He hit it through to make it 21-17 with just over a minute left before halftime. Atlanta had 58 seconds to work with after returning the kickoff out to the 30. A quick out to London got the ball out of bounds with a seven-yard gain. On third-and-three after an incompletion, Pitts just got enough on a short pass to get the first down. A swing pass to Robinson resulted in a gain to the Bucs' 49 with 24 seconds to play. The Bucs used a timeout to straight things out on defense, but Cousins still got the ball to Mooney for a gain of 21, followed by a short pass to Pitts at the 26. The Falcons used their final timeout with 13 seconds left. Cousins' next two passes were incomplete and, after an illegal contact penalty moved the ball up five yards, Younghoe Koo came on to hit a 39-yard field goal to give Atlanta a 24-17 halftime lead. Atlanta fielded the kickoff to start the second half, with the return getting to the 28. Robinson got around left end for a good gain on the first play but it came back on a holding call that pushed the ball back to the 21. An attempted tunnel screen to Robinson was blown up by Lavonte David for a loss of three more. The Bucs figured out an audible by Cousins and got to McCloud on a screen out to the right for another loss of two. Robinson got 13 yards on a third-down run but it wasn't nearly enough for a first down and the Falcons punted. Palmer found a crack on the punt return but was tripped up at the Bucs' 39 after a gain of 14. Irving worked magic just to get one yard on first down, but a Mayfield scramble was erased by a holding call. On third-and-12, Mayfield got it to McMillan on a tunnel screen and the rookie made it work, fighting at the end for just enough for a first down at the Falcons' 49. Irving took a short pass and broke a tackle on the next play to find the right sideline for a gain of 13. The Bucs got tricky on the next play, running a fleaflicker that turned disastrous when it was picked off by Bates at the Atlanta eight-yard line. The Falcons gave it to Allgeier on the next five plays and he gained a total of 29 yards. On first down, Cousins finally dropped back to pass but was smothered by Brewer for a loss of nine The Falcons couldn't recover, with Kancey stopping McCloud seven yards short on a screen. Palmer field a bouncing punt and got it back to the Bucs' 31. Shepard caught a five-yard out to start the next drive, and Irving's counter run out of a two-back set added two. On third-and-three, White ran a wheel route up the right sideline but couldn't complete a one-handed catch. The Bucs tried a fake punt, snapping the ball directly to upback Tavierre Thomas, but the Falcons bottled it up and took possession at the Bucs' 36. Robinson broke an apparent touchdown run on the next play but it was brought back by holding. Two quick plays got Atlanta back into a third-and-five, which Cousins converted with a quick out to Mooney for seven yards. An end-around to McCloud got 17 yards and made it first-and-goal at the seven. DL Vita Vea stopped Allgeier for a gain of just one and Cousins had enough time find Robinson wide open in the left flat for an easy six-yard score. After a touchback, McMillan took an end-around to the left and found the edge for a gain of 17. Baker had time to survey the field on the next play and eventually fired a strike to WR Rakim Jarrett for 20 more to the Atlanta 27. Two plays later, Mayfield thought he had a lane to get the ball to McMillan down the left sideline but CB A.J. Terrell leaped in and picked it off at the Atlanta six. Tampa Bay's defense turned up the heat at that point. LB K.J. Britt got to Allgeier in the backfield for a loss of one, and on second down a botched handoff put the ball on the ground and it eventually went out of the back of the end zone for a safety. That gave the Bucs two points and the ball back at their own 27 after a Falcons kickoff. A false start backed the Bucs up before the first snap, followed by a dumpoff to Irving for six and a sliding catch by McMillan for 11 and a first down. Two plays later WR Ryan Miller made a sliding catch for a first down at the 50-yard line. After two more passes to Miller, one of which was complete for six yards, the Bucs faced a third-and-four and Mayfield kept the drive alive with a scramble up the middle to the Atlanta 34. After an incompletion and a screen to White, the Bucs faced another third-and-four and this time Mayfield fit a hard pass into a very small window to Jarrett for a gain of 19 to the Atlanta nine. A quick out to McMillan got about half of it, and Mayfield once again found Otton just across the goal line for a sliding touchdown. Atlanta got the ball to midfield on two plays, but a Robinson carry on second-and-three was stopped short. Robinson got it again on third down and found enough room to run down to the Bucs' 42. A facemask penalty on the Falcons moved the ball back to the Atlanta 46 and stopped the clock at the 4:19 mark. Two plays later, an improbable scramble by Cousins took it all the way to the Bucs' 31 and made it third-and-one. The Bucs used their first timeout with 3:05 left. On third down, Brewer broke through the line to hit Allgeier and stop him in his tracks. The Falcons went for it on fourth down and Cousins pushed his way through the pile for a first down at the 30. Three more runs drained the clock to 1:06 and sucked up the Bucs' final two timeouts. Koo then missed a 46-yard field goal attempt. The Bucs had 1:01 left when they got it back at their own 36. A short pass to McMillan got six, followed by an incompletion made it third down and another underneath throw to Miller moved the chains but kept the clock running. Mayfield rushed up to the line and got off a 19-yard pass over the middle to Jarrett. There were nine seconds left when Mayfield spiked the ball at the Atlanta 33, and a false start moved it back to the 38. Mayfield couldn't find anyone to throw to on the next snap and threw it out of bounds with six seconds to go. All that was left was a Hail Mary attempt that had some promise, but Jarrett was already out of the back of the end zone when he caught the ball. Scott Smith, Buccaneer, published 28 October 2024