Plenty of blame to go around in loss to Dolphins Roy Cummings, The Tampa Tribune, published 16 November 2009 Wherever it is on the list of needs in this rebuilding project of theirs, the Bucs probably can put a checkmark by the quarterback. Given one more chance, Josh Freeman might have pulled out another miracle win Sunday. "He's the real deal," running back Cadillac Williams said. "With Josh at the helm, our future here is bright." Maybe they can put a checkmark by the placekicker, too. After all, before Connor Barth's effort against the Dolphins at Land Shark Stadium, no Bucs kicker had made three field goals of 50 yards or more in the same game. "That's one of the positives that came out of this game," cornerback Ronde Barber said. "We may have found our kicker." If only the Bucs could find their defense. That side of the ball has been a problem all season and it was again Sunday, when a late field-goal drive gave the Dolphins a 25-23 win that drove the Bucs from exhilaration to heartbreak. "What you wouldn't do to have had that old 2002 defense or even that old 1997 defense, just for that one drive," Barber said. "But you know what, that's the story of our 2009 season." Sunday's chapter in that story unfolded like this: After Freeman and Barth helped erase a 13-point Dolphins edge and give the Bucs 23-22 lead with 1:14 to play, the Bucs defense took the field. The defense had turned in a pretty good day to that point, allowing 238 yards (45 on one first-quarter play) and limiting Miami to field goals on two of its four scoring drives. With the game on the line, though, that defense gave up a 25-yard pass on the first play, 9 yards on a pass interference call on the second and a 16-yard completion on the third. After quarterback Chad Henne spiked the ball to stop the clock, a 27-yard run by Ricky Williams set the stage for Dan Carpenter's 25-yard field goal with 10 seconds left. "It wasn't like they did anything that was special or unstoppable," Bucs middle linebacker Barrett Ruud said. "It was really just a matter of us not executing. We have to keep the ball in front of us there and not let them get big chunks of yardage. We have to make them earn everything they get. We have to make them kick a 60-yard field goal, not a chip shot. That was completely on us." That last drive might have been, but the outcome wasn't. Some others had a big hand in that. And hand is the operative word there. Freeman, for example, fumbled the ball four times, losing it once. And it was Michael Clayton's controversial failure to secure a ball in his hands that turned the game in Miami's favor late in the second quarter. After replay review, Clayton's apparent catch at the Bucs' 15-yard line with 1:43 to play was ruled an interception by Jason Taylor and the Dolphins took control. Aided by an unsportsmanlike-conduct penalty that Bucs coach Raheem Morris earned while arguing the call, the Dolphins needed two plays to extend their lead to 16-6 on a Henne touchdown pass. Then, with the Bucs' offense angry and still a little befuddled by what happened a series earlier, the Dolphins forced a three-and-out. Miami's offense then drove 40 yards in six plays for a 30-yard field goal that made it 19-9 at the half. "Those points at the end of the half, that's how much we lost by and so I should be given all the blame for that," Morris said. "This loss is solely on me. I used the wrong type of language with the official. It was a little bit of a taunt deal, but I used the wrong language. I gave them an extra 5 yards and made it easier for them to score a touchdown." The Bucs made it easy for the Dolphins to score their first touchdown as well, with missed tackles by Sabby Piscitelli and Quincy Black aiding Ronnie Brown in a 45-yard run that set up Brown's 1-yard TD run four plays later. The Bucs countered, though, making it 19-9 on Barth's 54-yard field goal with 4:05 to play in the third quarter and 19-16 on Freeman's 33-yard touchdown pass to Maurice Stovall on the first play of the fourth quarter. Freeman then led the Bucs on their go-ahead drive, running for 14 yards on first down and throwing to Kellen Winslow for 4 more one play later to set up Cadillac Williams 1-yard touchdown run with 1:14 to play. The Bucs' two TD drives were sparked by takeaways, with Tanard Jackson recovering a Brown fumble to set up the first and Black picking off a Henne pass to set up the second. Those plays and the fact the Bucs limited the number of big plays they surrendered to Brown's 45-yard run in the first quarter and Ricky Williams' 27-yard run down the stretch left Morris encouraged. "We played well enough to win on defense," Morris said. "I mean, with the exception of (those two big plays) it was a respectable day for us. We just have to cap it off to win it, and we didn't do that."