Bucs Offense Blew It

October 3rd, 2024

Terrible final possession.

What a horrible, horrible, horrible final possession the Bucs had Thursday night, opening the door for a Dixie Chicks comeback. And that’s just what happened.

The Bucs, after Lavonte David picked off a Kirk Cousins pass, had a first down on the Dixie Chicks-28. Leading by three with under two minutes to play, the Bucs could have put the game away with a touchdown or at least run the block out.

Instead, a couple of weak-arsed runs (one of which had Mike Evans running wide-arse open for a touchdown), a holding penalty and a chickens(p)it screen pass and the Bucs gave Atlanta the ball back knowing the pass defense was horrid beyond words.

And what does Atlanta do? March right down the field, kick a game-tying field goal, and then scores an overtime touchdown.

Way to go offense.

When have you last seen a good team go so turtle in the final possession when they could have thrown the knockout punch?

Gutless. Embarrassing. Shameful. Inexcusable.

And the way this division has been the past two years, that could be very, very costly.

READ NEXT
Falcons 36, Buccaneers 30

92 Responses to “Bucs Offense Blew It”

  1. BucsBeast Says:

    Bowles played scared when the game mattered most.

  2. Mike Johnson Says:

    Offense played well enough to win. Our defense simply did not or could not stop the Falcons..PERIOD.

  3. unbelievable Says:

    NO MENTION OF THE REFS COMPLETELY EFFING US ON THAT PLAY WITH THE HOLDING CALL BY NOT CALLING THE BLATANT FACE MASK AGAINST BUCKY?????

    Instead of a 3rd and 2, they put us in a 2nd and 20!

    That completely changed the game and gave the Falcons the chance to come back and tie it.

    Disgusting.

    Why aren’t officials held accountable for their game changing mistakes? WTF!!!!!!

    I’m so so goddamn angry right now

  4. Joseph C Simmons Says:

    I don’t have a problem with the first two run calls. It was the execution that sucked.

    On third down, we should’ve thrown a high percentage pass to get within field goal range. Who cares if we give them one timeout?

  5. BucsBeast Says:

    After LVD’s Pic, all we needed was a 1st down.

  6. NaplesBucsFan Says:

    The play calling was autrocious Joe, but damn the D has to own this one. 30 points can’t win it in regulation then losing is all too possible

  7. Tackleblockwin Says:

    Why did we take our foot off the gas in a game that was a shootout?

  8. Bculaw Says:

    Tough first post game article. Bad last possession for sure, but hard to pin this on the offense when the defense let Cousins throw for half a grand and was soft as Charmin when the game was on the line.

  9. QBKilla Says:

    Pass rush sucked most of the night. We will remain average until it is fixed.

  10. BangkokBuc Says:

    I’m gonna be sick

  11. Rover Says:

    These are the games that cost people jobs. And it should. Someone has to answer for that debacle.

  12. Miller5252 Says:

    Bucs D blew it all night. O scores 30 and can’t win. No pass rush when it matters. Wasn’t there a story on here about chucky saying that……. Weird. Go get a D end

  13. Oxycondomns Says:

    500 yds to a qb and a scared head coach offense blew it lol glad your boy bucky didnt blow it either

  14. TheBucsAnthem Says:

    Over 500 yards for Atlanta

    That’s just bad defense

    Bucs were hanging on for dear life…..

    I knew when Koo made the FG = GAME OVER……bucs lose

  15. NaplesBucsFan Says:

    The screen pass was horrible…LBD HAD THE GAME FOR US

  16. FortMyersDave Says:

    Joe, I am curious if Coen called that garbage by himself or did Bowels tell him to go turtle. Holding penalties were killer too. Bad loss by Bowel’s boys. Only plus is that Aints play on MNF but if Bucs play like they did tonight Tampa will likely be 3-3.

  17. Jack Says:

    This is NOT Coen, fully believe Bowles was putting his thumb on the scale with those ‘Canales runs’

  18. TexasBuc Says:

    After that interception, we could have taken three kneel downs and kicked a field goal and fared better. Insane.

  19. D-Rome Says:

    Perfectly stated, Joe

  20. unbelievable Says:

    Defense sucked all game until 2 of the last 3 posessions.

    Refs completely effed us by calling holding but not calling the face mask. < THAT was the difference at the end. Atlanta never makes it down the field otherwise.

  21. 4-5straight Ls Says:

    Should lose a coach after losing that game.

  22. MegaFailure Says:

    bucs have literally no way of beating the ravens or chiefs

  23. Kyle Bush Says:

    Yeah sure sure Joe, but the 600 yards of offense our defense gave up is why we lost. Obviously Bowles was going to run the ball 3 times because he’s a moron who makes the same mistakes over and over. Defensive coach? My @$$

  24. EA Says:

    Bucs a good team??
    Bwahahaha.
    There are certain teams and players the bucs don’t match up well with, it’s been like that the last decade regardless of who the coach is.
    Bucs can’t seem to defend rookie QBs and kirk cousins to save their life.
    0-1 in the division, they’re guaranteed to lose both games against the saints. It’s awful

  25. Jw94buc Says:

    No they did not. The refs not calling that face mask was Atrocious Officiating. Literally cost 3-7 points which would have made over time a fallacy. I’m licking my chops to three weeks. On top of it the falcons players acting like they won the Super Bowl afterward was wild…

  26. Ds Says:

    Bucs went out sad

  27. Drunkinybor Says:

    9 and 8 or 8 and 9. This was a bad bad loss. This is a loss where the locker room can become divided. Toughest part of our schedule is now. Bowles hamstrung Liam I know it. Football gods are not kind to sissys.

  28. BucThis Says:

    More like that $hitty defense blew it. Confidence in Bowles in going to be EXTREMELY low after this game. In fact, Run a poll now.

  29. NaplesBucsFan Says:

    One bad possession at the end don’t excuse the sh!t show the D out on tape!!!

  30. Cometowin2 Says:

    Trusted Mayfield all game and Bowles gives up! You know it’s him!

  31. Buc4evr Says:

    Terrible play calling. Evan’s was wide open.

  32. Bowles more like Bowels Says:

    Yeah, they did, but the defense was trash all night long.

  33. Irishmist Says:

    Refs gave that game to Atlanta. They call a questionable holding call while they miss a blatantly obvious face mask. Actually you know they didn’t miss it they were just too gutless to call it.

  34. PSLBucfan Says:

    My nuts hurt.

  35. BomTrady Says:

    Barton is a liability, the fumbled killed us, and the missed obvious facemask prevented us from making a FG with a very reliable kicker. That would have won us the game because the odds of the Falcons scoring a TD from the 40 with 1 second is very remote.

  36. Chad Says:

    Defense hurt us more than anything, play calling on that last possession was terrible but the defense let Kirk throw for 509 yards

  37. Boge Says:

    How do you fumble? Hang on to the football!! F me

  38. BomTrady Says:

    Cousins threw 58 passes for 509 yards and 4 TDs, those are OBSCENE numbers

  39. Will Says:

    509yds that’s all you have to say. If your offense gives you 30 it should be a win. Where was the pressure on the drive before the field goal and in OT. Smh Todd got scared. OC got scared and went turtle as well someone has to let their nut$ hang and go win the game. Terrible coaching towards the end..

  40. LVMYBUCS Says:

    We will never go to the SB with this coaching staff. ONE MINUTE ONE MINUTE AND U PLAY SCARED

  41. Cometowin2 Says:

    I absolutely hate Bowles’s soft zone pass defense.

  42. A Bucs Fan Says:

    Here come the toddlers all overreacting. This Bucs team will be fine.

  43. Jason Anthony Sturgess Says:

    Fire Todd Bowles now. Get rid of Raachaad White Now! This was the worst coached gane I’v veer seen in the NFL>

  44. JTHV Says:

    You people are dumb

    It was a great game

    Bucky fumble and Bucky face mask no call was the difference

    Dumb people blame Bowles down 5 starters on 4 day week

    Blame Bucky

  45. Zzbucs Says:

    The worst tackling performance I,ve seen in my life…..
    Conservative/scary play calling
    Too many injuries
    Refs missed a big time face mask by the end

  46. Tom Says:

    Todd Bowles D. Why would you expect anything different?????

  47. Jugheadfla Says:

    Really Joe….we’re going to blame the offense? Not the 500 yards that our defensive head coach….a so called guru….allowed?

  48. MegaFailure Says:

    FALCONS DIDNT SOCRE AN OFFENSIVE TOUCHDOWN LAST SUNDAY!! JUST THINK ABOUT THAT. THEY WILL RETREAT BACK TO THEIR WAYS NEXT SUNDAY

  49. TheBucsAnthem Says:

    Let’s be honest here Bucs fans

    The Bucs true colors were against the Broncos…..

    Bucs has a bad defense……no pressures hardly, bad pass defense….weak run game

    If it wasn’t for Baker extending plays with his legs…..we’d would’ve only won 1 game……

    The Bucs aren’t a very good team right now….AVERAGE team…..

    I believe, this game will become very costly for the Bucs looking from the outside in to even have a shot at the playoffs

  50. Miller5252 Says:

    And Ira wonders why fans can’t get behind Bowles….. prime example of a “defensive guru” getting cooked for 500 yards. Better have an eagles game next week against that saints or the loses are gonna stack. D was a joke tonight

  51. Timbo Slice Says:

    Joe must have missed when the defense was on the field. Jamel Dean is a clown. KJ Britt is Devin White 2.0 and tykee got exposed all night.

  52. Waterboy Says:

    Refs missed a face mask on that same play where they called the penalty on the offense. Those calls should have been offsetting penalties.

    Bucky’s fumble the prior possession didn’t help either when they were in scoring position and could’ve milked the clock.

  53. Weebs10 Says:

    ITS CALLED SNATCHING DEFEAT FROM THE JAWS OF VICTORY. DANG IT BUCS WE WERE RIGHT THERE

  54. Pewter Power Says:

    Let’s play keep away and make them use their timeouts hahaha how stupid was that last possession and they had been eating up our defense all game except for a few defensive stands here and there

  55. PanhandleBuc Says:

    Defense was awful! Missed tackles, soft arse zone and that final drive in regulation was PATHETIC!! Now they get to soak in that L for 10 days!

  56. LVMYBUCS Says:

    If Bowles was ever a good coach he would still be with that team. He sucks as a head coach always has always will I guarantee it

  57. GenocideD Says:

    Gimme 30 points…

  58. Heath Hunt Says:

    If they don’t fire Liam Coen on the flight back then can’t watch the rest of season.

  59. GenocideD Says:

    Just gimme 30 points…

  60. LVMYBUCS Says:

    Damn I can’t believe the last minute he chose to play scares instead of knock out punch fing idiot

  61. Bon Marley Says:

    Uh. Defense sucked.

    Cousins shredded.

  62. Matt_PcAfee Says:

    Relax “Jose”.. Just wait till we play the Aints…

  63. Mostly Peaceful Trask Fan Says:

    I told you the division would not be gifted to the Bucs again this year.

    They are just getting it figured out too. They haven’t gelled yet

  64. Please Says:

    I think both teams can take some accountability for this one. The safety injuries are brutal.

  65. Tampabaybucfan Says:

    Joe has spent all year trashing Cousins….he kicked our a&& tonight

  66. DBS Says:

    30 points on the board and you want to complain? Sure go-ahead. No put it where it really belongs Our Sh!t defense who let Cousin March up and down the field all night. DON’T forget they missed. Field Goal. We got lucky on that one.

  67. Hodad Says:

    One first down, or one sack when they had no timeouts would’ve done it too. Team loss, Bucky’s fumble was a killer. Pressure was on the Buc offense all night to score eveytime they had the ball. You knew from the opening drive when our D gets punched in the mouth, they don’t punch back. Let’s hope we can slow down N.O. next week.

  68. TombsEN Says:

    Why are our fans so basic minded??? It’s like there is no thinking with you all. I don’t know how many teams can overcome losing 4 key players on defense…the fans here are infantile when it comes too football acumen.

  69. infomeplease Says:

    You can blame the offense for that pitiful last drive. Or BI7 for the fumble. Or the ref’s non facemask call during the fumble, or you can blame the defense for not getting off the field on third and forth downs most all the game, or you can blame TB’s strategy to play zone instead of tight coverage. Pick one! The Bucs still lost.

  70. Mostly Peaceful Trask Fan Says:

    New Orleans puts 50 on this defense.

    Then what do you think Mahomes will do?

    Ravens?

    49ers?

    Oh and the Panthers aren’t a gimme game with the bust QB benches.

  71. Dave Pear Says:

    And who was the head coach overseeing this atrocity? We’ve seen this before. Houston Texans last year. Rams in the 2021 Divisional. Falcons game 1 last year, almost game 2. Bo Nix! Todd couldn’t even stop Bo Nix.

    Todd is horrible in situational football. That’s all there is to say. Both sides of the ball (as head coach he is also responsible for the offense as well as the defenseless side of the ball). When your guys don’t know their zone assignments, why not just rush 7? Cousins can’t handle the blitz. Nope. Todd rushed 4 the entire night. He did what I feared – they’ll expect us to blitz so we’ll play coverage.” Except your defense can’t cover a dead fly with a blanket, Todd.

    This is Todd’s MO. By mirage and sleight of hand he’s given up lots of passing yards , and it was only a matter of time before the points correlated.

    Here come the apologists. Make the excuses. “Oh but he held the Chiefs to 9 points in the Super Bowl.” And he had a real Head Coach who he reported to.

    If BA were the head coach, Baker would have gotten a play call to throw for a first down or scramble. The offense, as directed by the head coach, would have finished out the game.

  72. Bnasty25 Says:

    People blaming the defense? The middle was suspect but then Britt goes out with Dennis out already? Kacey out, two mlbs, breece hall, Winfield, whitehead? It was there for pickins and it sucks…. On to next week… Bucky fumble was bad and he should of slid but after that? Middle of the defense was vulnerable all night and we ran soft zone against cousins who is a vet and even though he’s not elite he’s a solid starter…. We got out coached in critical moments. Can’t wait until we are healthy for the long haul

  73. TampaBayRudy Says:

    I’m so sick and tired of Todd Bowles after three years. He has no fire; no coaching instinct. The entire team turns on whether other staff come in and do slightly better. A head coach simply *HAS* to make good decisions, or fire anyone who doesn’t. Pattern the last three years: failure to call timeouts when even Helen Keller could see and hear it needed; trying to win games by running out the game clock sitting on a three point lead; playing scared; allowing opponents massive windows by playing wide, empty zones and prevent defenses before halftime; and milquetoast sidelinery. Like, show some emotion, Coach. In fact, ditch that doofy constipated look when calls go wrong. Yell at a ref sometime. Yell at a knucklehead player sometime. Show some fire; some grit. Better yet: get outta town. We demand change.

  74. BucsFan81 Says:

    This team isn’t winning a division it lost to one legged falcon team and to a rookie QB Bo Nix who had only played his third NFL game. We’re in deep trouble when we have to face Ravens, Chiefs and 49ers all those QB are going to tear this defense up. Hell Derek Carr probably will also. Bowles needs to be fired if we don’t get into the playoffs and make a deep playoff push. This is the same crap we saw last year.

  75. Heath Hunt Says:

    Had they lead the entire game and forced the Falcons to go for it inside their own 30 on 4th down. The offense failed in the critical moments just as much as the defense

  76. Bartow Buc Says:

    Offense did all they could but the D missed tackles all night long. I agree we were way too conservative on that last possession we needed to burn clock and at least get one first down, looked like Evans was open for a TD. One first down would have sealed it we could have kneeled it out. The holding penalty on Barton killed us …..bad call.

  77. Rick Says:

    I hope homes.com is paying you guys well….they are ruining this site .. at least on phones.

  78. Mostly Peaceful Trask Fan Says:

    Joe did trash talk Cousins a blue streak.

    He obliterated the Bucs tonight for 440.

  79. Outrigger Says:

    Agree with Joe, this was in the offense. We were playing with mostly a 2nd and 3rd string defense with all the injuries. In the first half the offense was aggressive and lates down in the 2nd half. Offense only scored 6 points in the 2nd half. Needed 10

  80. Mostly Peaceful Trask Fan Says:

    Watching Cousins tonight was like watching Trask against Georgia.

  81. Bucs And Them Says:

    Texas Buc……Hammer, meet nail……..Bucs wrote the book on ‘creative losing’. Classic snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. That defense was embarrassing.
    Offense looked great only to go and blow it when it mattered. This could be a real lethal loss. Unbelievable.

  82. A Bucs Fan Says:

    You all don’t realize this happened because of the injuries to the defense, right?

  83. Booger Says:

    LAST Place in the entire NATION last season in number of plays ran at Kentucky. Baker threw the ball 24-TIMES. The further down the field they get (especially in the end zone when it should definitely be the opposite’), the SLOWER they get. Our DB’s have THE WORST ‘ball-skills’ of ANY DB-Group I’ve EVEN SEEN before, on an NFL Roster. DEAN is just AWFUL. Absolutely, KILLING-US. ZERO instincts. Barton KILLED-US. Bowles “Defense” is NOT working. How bout try ‘something’ DIFFERENT. And, PLEASE… Just STOP-IT already, with the WHITE anywhere NEAR between the tackles on 1st & 2nd and TENNNNN. ENOUGH. Scrap-It. It’s not worth-it. It is Drive KILLERS. SPEED. IT. UPPPPPP. It’s TOO SLOWWWWWW.

  84. Davenport Says:

    We have seen this with every OC in the Bowles era. It’s not the OC, it’s not the players, it’s the HC: a gutless coward with no killer instinct.

  85. It’s brutal out here Says:

    As Joe has been saying over and over and over again

    We had to suck on defense to lose today but we answered the bell and suck we did.

    We have talent but not depth. My enthusiasm for the OL has been tempered. Y their play. If you need a friggin’ Guard draft a friggin Guard. Stop being cute or smart it takes too long for you to reprogram OTs. Klein must really be struggling to adapt to the NFL. Mauch still looks suspect. Will Goedeke play again?

    I hope our pass rush improves as our players heal but it’s too late to address the holes in the roster. I’ll take 3-2 but without a pass rush or run game we will go nowhere.

  86. BucNasty Says:

    This was worse than the Texans loss, and I never thought I’d ever say that. Disgusting loss and I stayed up late to watch it. I’m gonna be a grumpy fukker at work tomorrow

  87. Mostly Peaceful Trask Fan Says:

    180 yards and another offensive flame out from Captain Checkdown.

  88. Dave Pear Says:

    A Bucs Fan – a perfectly healthy defense gave up 500 yards passing to rookie CJ Stroud last year, only then, Todd’s prevent playing defense shell lost in on regulation. Todd’s guys can’t play zone. They’re not particularly cut out for it, and they don’t know their assignments anyway. He had two press man corners and never played press man. Now……whatever you want to call it, it’s horrible pass defense, a continuation of last and preceding years.

    And now the rest of the league has the film. They max protected a lot and we rushed 4. And Todd didn’t compensate for the eggplant on stilts at MLB who couldn’t cover a dead fly with a towel. Like, maybe put another guy in the middle?

    And coaching after LVD’s pick was a terminal crime. Houston 2023. LA Rams Divisional, 2021.

    And this one takes the cake.

    Jason really needs to tell Todd what time it is. Hire some consultants to teach pass defense, hire a consultant to help with coaching in critical situations, game management decisions. It’s disgusting. And it just keeps happening. Definition of insanity.

  89. Booger Says:

    Well, we kicked two long FG’s and got a third one to go along with ‘em. It’s TOO SLOW. And, when he’s still so stubbornly INTENT on RUNNING THE BALL between the Tackles on 1st and 2nd & 10’s… He’s putting them behind the 8-ball to begin with EVERY. TIME. & it just KILLS our momentum and DRIVES. It. Doesn’t. WORK. It’s. NOT. Going. TO. Scrap-IT. FORGET-IT. Get it outta YOURRRR MINDDDD. GO. FASTTTTTTTT. Did we even run 40-PLAYS TONIGHT, not counting the FG’s!? DID WE!? If so, I bet not by much. Not even wasting my time vs looking. I KNOW WHAT I CAN SEE. And, it’s the same damm THING I saw last season at UK. It’s The Twilight Zone, I tell you!!!!

  90. It’s brutal out here Says:

    Sorry first part didn’t show up. As Joe has said we don’t have enough pass rushers who can make a difference. Without that we will be one and done when up against playoff caliber teams. If we even get there. 509….

  91. Bliz Says:

    Buccs D gives up 509 pass yards, and this ignoramus wants to blame their offense?

  92. Smiize Says:

    Same ol Bucs for 45ish years.
    No discipline and the IQ of a 3 year old.
    When are coaches going to be smart enough to realize this GD prevent defense doesn’t work? Never has.
    You play 58 minutes with tight coverage and pass rushes only to think all of a sudden if you back off 15 yards the guy won’t eventually get into scoring position.
    Idiotic play on all parts.
    So fn disgusted with these overpaid lazy ass idiots.
    How many times can a guy get a booboo and stay out of play?
    4 million frigging dollars . Hate this team. At least the old Bucs tried to win.