Second-half collapse vs. Bengals leads to another loss for Bucs The shocking thing about Sunday's 34-23 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals wasn't just the swiftness of the Bucs' collapse. It wasn't even that surprising that they played a near-perfect first half in building a 17-3 lead with Tom Brady throwing a pair of touchdown passes. The stunner was that it was Brady who was responsible for four turnovers - two fumbles and two interceptions - in a span of 10 offensive plays (12 including those erased by penalties) that opened the floodgates against the defending AFC champions, who won their sixth straight game. A botched fake punt that was mishandled by Giovani Bernard to start the third quarter is what got things flowing the wrong way. First in a trickle and then a rush, when Brady started losing the football and the game. "The two fumbles were, you know, my fault," Brady explained. "It was uncharacteristic. One of the interceptions was just a terrible throw, and the other one I think I may have got hit. I was laying on the ground, and the ball landed in his arms." Consider this: Until the Bucs allowed 34 unanswered points Sunday, Brady was 89-0 in his career at home when leading by 17 points or more. But the giveaways on five consecutive possessions to begin the second half meant the Bengals started four of their scoring chances inside the Tampa Bay 39-yard line. "We're pissed off," Bucs coach Todd Bowles said. "It's the same old song. It's Bucs versus Bucs. You know, we play a good first half, and the second half we come out and we shoot ourselves in the foot, either by turnovers or penalties or field position on special teams. It's a tale of two halves, and the half we played in the second half was Bucs versus Bucs." Bowles' decision to order a fake punt on fourth and 1 from the Tampa Bay 26-yard line with his team seemingly in control is the play that seemed to change the entire momentum of the game. Bernard, a veteran running back who has barely played this season, was inserted as the punt protector. When the direct snap from Zach Triner came his direction, he wasn't ready for it and had to recover his own fumble. Bengals linebacker Markus Bailey pounced on Bernard at the Tampa Bay 16-yard line. "We needed 1 yard. We had it," Bowles said. "We practiced it all week. We just didn't handle the football. It was fourth and 1. They had a front that we could take advantage of. It was blocked well. We could've run for 4 or 5 yards. We missed the ball." The Bucs' defense, which held the Bengals to 237 total yards, allowed only a 21-yard field goal by Evan McPherson from that unfortunate turnover on downs. Did Bowles regret taking such a chance with the Bucs leading 17-3? "No," he said. "It was the perfect time." Bernard, who first declined to be interviewed after the game, later took the blame for the play. "Miscommunication on my part. I take complete fault for that," he said. "It's on me. All me. That's something I did wrong. It was all on me. No. 25. That was me out there. I did it. I messed up." After that, the Bengals started the next three drives at the Tampa Bay 31, 13 and 39 and a fourth at the Cincinnati 47. They converted all those miscues into 24 points before driving for another touchdown in the closing minutes. Quarterback Joe Burrow used his good fortune to throw touchdown passes to Tee Higgins, Tyler Boyd and Ja'Marr Chase. "It was really the turning point of the game right there," Burrow said. "Defense and special teams stepping up and getting us the ball, four straight possessions inside the 50." Brady, who had only three interceptions in his first 12 games, has four in his last two. He went 17-of-23 passing for 194 yards and two touchdowns in the first half before the wheels fell off. The collapse began with the second possession of the third quarter, when Brady's pass to tight end Cameron Brate was intercepted by cornerback Tre Flowers. That led to Higgins' touchdown. Then Brady was sacked by linebacker Logan Wilson, and defensive tackle DJ Reader forced a fumble that was recovered by defensive end Joseph Ossai. That led to the scoring pass to Boyd. A few plays later, Brady fumbled a handoff to Leonard Fournette, resulting in Chase's touchdown. Brady's last interception, by linebacker Germaine Pratt, came when he was hit as he delivered the football. "(There were) a lot of things that happened. It could be blocking, it could be a bad ball, it could be a great play," Bowles said. "We turned it over six possessions (including a punt), and we probably played them all on the plus-50 going in the second half. Field position, from that standpoint, turnovers, not getting red-zone stops with some penalties had a lot to do with it. We played hard, and we play smart. You've got to play smart for four quarters." The Bucs will try to stop the bleeding Christmas night at Arizona. Maybe by then, they will have done enough gift-wrapping of games. "In football, all you can do is fight," Bowles said. "You can fight, you can play smart, coach smarter, and we've got to keep fighting. We understand what we're doing. It's not good enough. By far, it's not even close to good enough, and we've got three games left to try to save our season." Rick Stroud, The Tampa Bay Times, published 19 December 2022