In what is becoming an all too familiar pattern, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers found a way to lose a winnable game on Sunday.
The 23-20 loss at the hands of the Carolina Panthers is the sixth loss in seven games for Tampa Bay. Now, the Bucs will have to win both of their remaining games, including a Week 18 rematch against the Panthers, to win the NFC South title.
There is plenty of blame to go around after the Bucs fumbled a golden opportunity to take control of the NFC South and their playoff hopes.
3 Buccaneers who deserve the most blame after 23-20 loss to Panthers in Week 16
Luke Goedeke
Goedeke played arguably his worst game since making the change to right tackle after his rookie year.
He committed four penalties that contributed to stalling drives and putting the offense in bad situations.
With so much at stake, the Bucs simply couldn’t afford these continuous mistakes by Goedeke, and his mental errors played a big role in the loss. After giving him a four year, $90 million contract last offseason, the Bucs expect much better from their franchise right tackle.
John Bullock
As an undrafted free agent who snuck onto the roster as a bubble player for special teams contributions, Bullock doesn’t have enough goodwill built up to withstand the boneheaded mistake he made on Sunday.
After the Panthers kicked off to Tampa Bay late in the fourth quarter, Bullock inexplicably head butted a Carolina player after the kickoff. He was flagged for unnecessary roughness and set the offense back half the distance to the goal.
Down by a field goal with the division on the line, the offense needed every yard they could get, and Bullock setting them back with his idiotic decision certainly won’t go over well in the locker room after yet another devastating loss.
Josh Grizzard
Grizzard had big shoes to fill after Liam Coen departed for the Jaguars head coaching job after calling one of the best offensive units in franchise history.
Simply put, Grizzard hasn’t filled those shoes.
His play calling against Carolina was terribly predictable. His most notable flaw on Sunday was that the team ran the ball on 17/22 (77%) of their first-down plays entering the final drive.
After getting the ball inside the Panthers’ 5-yard line in the second quarter, Grizzard called run plays on first, second, and third down to no avail before settling for a field goal.
For just the second time all season, the Bucs had all four of Mike Evans, Chris Godwin Jr., Emeka Egbuka, and Jalen McMillan at their disposal. The decision to remain so committed to the run despite finally having your full arsenal of weapons healthy is puzzling.
Grizzard needs to sprinkle in some creativity and take advantage of the talented group of weapons he has at his disposal, rather than being so stubborn and predictable with the early-down run game.