The Tampa Bay Buccaneers, despite being nine-point underdogs entering the game, took the Kansas City Chiefs to overtime at Arrowhead Stadium. That in itself is a huge moral victory for the Bucs, even if fans might not feel like celebrating after dropping to 4-5.
The talking point from this game won't be how the Bucs actually made it a game though. No, the talking point will be how the Bucs opted not to go for two in the final minute of the game to take the lead. Todd Bowles decided to play it safe, kick the extra point, and the Chiefs went on to win the game in overtime.
More Buccaneers news
That was a frustating decision but another annoying one came moments earlier when Bowles used a timeout despite the Bucs having plenty of time to work with. Had he not used the timeout there, the Bucs could have taken the game down to the wire and then going for two would have been the obvious decision.
While Bucs fans were fuming at Bowles opting to play it safe, on the other side of the field, Chiefs head coach Andy Reid loved the decision. When asked about Bowles' decision not to go for two, Reid said, "I'm glad he didn't."
Andy Reid thrilled that Todd Bowles went with the safe call
Of course Reid is thrilled that his adversary went for the tie and not the win. We saw the Chiefs try to get into field goal range on their final drive in regulation and it went poorly. The Chiefs ended up having to punt the ball back to Tampa and from there, the game went to overtime.
We can probably assume that had the Bucs been ahead at that point, however, that the Chiefs would have turned on whatever magic they seem to possess but the fact that the Bucs made them look bad there showed they had what it took to close things down in that final minute. Reid knew that when Bowles played it safe, his team regained the momentum it had lost and that was proven in overtime.
We all know that had the roles been reversed, Reid and the Chiefs wouldn't have played it safe there. The end result was frustrating for the Bucs but maybe Reid dunking on Bowles will push him to be more aggressive next time.