It's still hard to put into words just how disastrous the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' loss on Thursday night was. It wasn't just another close game, this time to the pitiful (now) 5-9 Atlanta Falcons, but it was a total system failure that saw the team blow a 14-point lead.
Despite being up two scores in the fourth quarter, the Bucs found a way to lose, and now they are a half-game behind the Panthers in the NFC South. A defensive disaster allowed the ailing Falcons to creep back into the game, despite committing an Atlanta franchise record 19 penalties.
It was just one thing. There were bad calls, missed opportunities, and poor coaching that all compounded to hammer the Bucs into the worst spot they've been in all season. Looking back in anger is easy to do after what happened, but it's also necessary to ensure that whatever went wrong doesn't happen again.
Failed fumble recovery
The Bucs were one play away from going home celebrating multiple times. After Falcons' receiver Darnell Mooney caught a 16-yard pass, Lavonte David forced a fumble, which bounced around before anyone fell on it. Of course, in Tampa Bay fashion, against all odds, Atlanta recovered the ball.
Immediate fan, commentator, and player reaction was that it was a turnover and the Buccaneers' ball, but that wasn't the case. Out of nowhere, Falcons' lineman Ryan Neuzil pounced on the ball. The Falcons went on to score a touchdown to pull within one score.
Strip sack debacle
Atlanta was attempting a game-winning drive, with no timeouts and less than two minutes remaining to drive into field goal range. On the second play of the drive, Haasan Reddick strip-sacked Kirk Cousins and pounced on the ball. Bucs' defenders immediately claimed possession, but no call was made.
After shuffling players around and conversing for what felt like forever, the Falcons were awarded possession. "Tie goes to the runner," Al Michaels said from the broadcast booth. It appeared both Cousins and Reddick retained possession of the ball, but the tie goes to the offense.
After the game, Cousins claimed to have full possession, but stated the offensive coordinator was quickly spewing off the next play in his earpiece, so he thought the play was dead and released the ball.
Blowing it on 3rd and 28 (and also 4th and 14)
One penalty and play later, it was 3rd and 28 on the Falcons' 29-yard line, with 80 seconds remaining in the game. Tampa Bay needed two easy stops, and everyone would go home happy. Unfortunately, Todd Bowles' defense didn't deliver. Kyle Pitts caught a dump-off pass, juked a defender, and gained 14 yards.
Then, disaster struck. 29-year-old undrafted free agent receiver David Sills V found a soft spot in the zone coverage and caught a first-down pass before falling out of bounds. After this deflating play, Bucs fans knew what was to come.