This is one of those games that will sting for a while, and leaves you shaking your head.

There were so many things that contributed to this loss to the Falcons.  There was the awful play-calling late in the 4^th quarter in which the Bucs only took 30 seconds off the clock.  There was the facemask penalty that was not called, that would’ve nullified a Tampa Bay holding penalty and kept the Bucs in field goal range.

But the biggest issue is, by far, the Bucs defense – especially the pass defense.  They allowed over 500 yards passing to Kirk Cousins.  The middle of the field was wide open all night long.  The tackling was horrendous…again.  And Todd Bowles did nothing to address the problem.  Nothing.  When Atlanta got the ball back with about 1:10 remaining, no timeouts, and only needing a field goal to tie, I had no doubt the Falcons would pull it off.  And when Atlanta won the coin toss for overtime, I said, ‘game over.’  I was right.

Look – I know the Bucs are banged up, with many key injuries.  But you know how the saying goes – ‘next man up.’  Well, the ‘next man’ is not getting the job done right now.  The season is far from over, and the Buccaneers are still 3-2, but this is one game we may look back on when playoff time rolls around.

Photo courtesy: Tampa Bay Buccaneers