One second from victory, the Bucs collapse against Falcons in OT All the Bucs had to do was pick up a first down in the final two minutes. They came up short. All they had to do was keep Atlanta from getting into field-goal range with no timeouts in the final minute of regulation. They blew it. All they had to do was tackle a journeyman receiver in overtime. They whiffed. Leading by three with one second remaining in regulation, the Bucs instead found themselves on the wrong end of heartbreak when Falcons receiver KhaDarel Hodge took a short pass and raced 45 yards into the end zone in overtime for a 36-30 comeback victory. The Bucs seemingly had everything going in their favor. Star kicker Younghoe Koo missed one field goal and had another blocked by Tavierre Thomas. Didn't matter. Lavonte David intercepted a pass in the final two minutes. Didn't matter. Baker Mayfield threw three touchdown passes and had a 137.5 passer rating. Didn't matter. Atlanta quarterback Kirk Cousins torched the Tampa Bay secondary for a franchise-record 509 yards with four touchdowns and directed back-to-back game-tying and game-winning drives. Play of the day With Drake London leaving the field in overtime, Hodge entered the game and lined up in the slot on first down from the Bucs 45. He ran a simple hitch pattern to the 40 and Cousins delivered the ball quickly. Bucs cornerback Zyon McCollum went for the ball, and failed to wrap the receiver up. Hodge, who has played for four teams in seven years and never had more than 14 receptions in a season, spun away and cut toward the middle of the field. He ran between five Bucs defenders and went all the way for the winning score. Game ball A week ago, Logan Hall got his first solo sack in nearly two years. On Thursday night, he got two more. At the time, they both seemed huge. The Falcons had gone 39 yards in 1:26 at the end of the first half to move into field-goal range with a shot at a touchdown. On second down from the Bucs 30, Hall made an inside move on right tackle Kaleb McGary and took Cousins down. The sack not only ruined Atlanta's hopes for a tying touchdown, but took the Falcons out of safe field goal range. Then, Hall showed up again with a sack late in the fourth quarter. Keep an eye on Yikes, when does Antoine Winfield Jr. come back? The Bucs managed to survive without their All-Pro safety for much of September, but they are beginning to show some cracks. Particularly with fellow safety Jordan Whitehead going down with an apparent groin injury in the second half Thursday night. With Tampa Bay playing a lot of zone, Cousins picked apart the secondary in the first half, finding wide-open receivers on play after play. The pass rush got a little better as the game went on, but there were still too many missed tackles and too many receivers running free across the middle. Five games into the season, the Bucs are giving up 22.8 points per game. That's higher than any season since Todd Bowles arrived as defensive coordinator in 2019. John Romano, Tampa Bay Times, published 4 October 2024