4 frustrating losers (and 3 big winners) from Buccaneers’ brutal loss to Dolphins

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers continued their epic collapse in Week 17, losing 20-17 to the Miami Dolphins and falling to 1-7 since the bye week.

Some Bucs delivered strong performances despite the loss, while others need to burn this game tape and move forward, quickly.

Miraculously, Tampa Bay's playoff hopes are still hanging on by a thread, and they'll take on the Carolina Panthers next weekend with the NFC South title on the line. They'll need to build on the positives and learn from the negatives if they hope to reach the playoffs for the sixth straight season.

Winners and losers from Buccaneers' 20-17 loss to Dolphins in Week 17

Winner: Chris Godwin Jr. 

Godwin had his best game of the season, recording 7 receptions on 8 targets for 108 yards and a touchdown.

Late in the fourth quarter he turned a short completion into a 59-yard catch-and-run. It took him some time to shake off the rust as he missed significant time earlier in the season recovering from injury, but on Sunday, vintage Godwin made an appearance, and it was a major bright spot despite the loss.

Loser: Baker Mayfield

Mayfield continues to look like a different quarterback than the one Bucs fans watched in the first half of the season. 

Mayfield threw two bad interceptions and lost a fumble, combining for three turnovers on the day. It’s his fourth consecutive game throwing an interception, and the Bucs have lost all four. Tampa Bay is now 0-8 on the season when Mayfield throws an interception, and 7-1 when he doesn’t. 

With a do-or-die NFC South title game on the horizon in Week 18, protecting the football needs to be the top priority for Mayfield as it seems to be the ultimate indicator of whether or not the Bucs can win a game.

Winner: Jalen McMillan 

Like Godwin, McMillan had his best game of the season after missing a significant portion due to injury. 

McMillan caught 7 of his 9 targets for 114 yards. He really hit his stride on Sunday, and his presence helps complete a strong Buccaneers wide receiver room. 

Bucs fans would rather not think about it, but with Mike Evans at 32 years old and seemingly contemplating retirement, and Godwin at 29 years old, the future in Tampa Bay without Evans and Godwin is closer than we’d like to think. It’s reassuring to know that the receiver room of the future is in good hands with a player like McMillan serving as a cornerstone.

Loser: Tykee Smith

Smith has been the Bucs’ best defensive back this season, and so Sunday’s poor performance is far from the norm. 

He took a bad angle on Miami’s first touchdown score, allowing the wide receiver to get behind him for a momentum-killing 63-yard touchdown drive on what was a 3rd-and-long.

Smith was seemingly benched for his poor performance, as Christian Izien was suddenly playing significant snaps in the second half while Smith was on the sideline. 

Hopefully, this will come as a wake-up call and Smith will go into next week’s NFC South title game against the Panthers with a chip on his shoulder and something to prove.

Winner: YaYa Diaby 

Diaby continues to be Tampa Bay’s best pass rusher on the season. He got home for his seventh sack of the year and is now one away from setting a new career high.

Diaby finished with six total tackles, his highest total of the season, including two tackles for loss to go along with his sack. He was one of the only defenders for Tampa Bay that showed up and did their part. 

With the flashes he’s shown as a young player, the front office needs to do everything possible in the offseason to find an elite edge rusher to line up opposite Diaby. Not because Diaby isn’t capable of making an impact, but because asking him to do it alone limits how dangerous he can be. With a true difference maker on the other side, Diaby’s job would become easier, and his production would reflect that.

Loser: Bucs’ Special Teams 

In what has become a familiar theme throughout the season, an incompetent special teams unit hurt the Buccaneers again.

Chase McLaughlin had a 55-yard field goal attempt blocked in a game Tampa Bay ultimately lost by three points.

After kicking a field goal to cut the deficit to one possession late in the second half, the Buccaneers allowed a 47-yard return on the ensuing kickoff. That return set Miami up in Bucs territory, where the Dolphins answered with a field goal to push the lead back to 10 points early in the fourth quarter.

Punter Riley Dixon also struggled. With Tampa Bay punting from its own 42-yard line, Dixon had a golden opportunity to pin Miami deep. Instead, the punt traveled just 27 yards and gave the Dolphins favorable field position.

Outside of McLaughlin, who has been elite this season, the special teams unit has consistently hurt the team. There has been plenty of noise surrounding Todd Bowles and his job security, but if the organization decides to clean house, special teams coordinator Thomas McGaughey should be the first to go.

Loser: Bucs’ Missed Tackles

The Bucs defense had one key job above all else against Miami: make their tackles. That applies in every game and goes without saying, but facing a seventh-round rookie quarterback in Quinn Ewers, there was even more emphasis on shutting down a dynamic Dolphins rushing attack and forcing the rookie to beat them with his arm.

Tampa Bay entered the game at 1-5 when allowing opponents to rush for 100 yards or more. They allowed the Dolphins to run wild for 145 total yards, and now fall to 1-6 when teams can successfully run the football against them.  

Dolphins running back Devon Achane was the main beneficiary of the poor tackling effort, consistently slipping free from Bucs defenders and turning small gains into big plays. He rushed for 83 yards and nearly 5 yards per carry. His counterpart, Jaylen Wright, rushed for 56 yards on just five carries for a whopping 11 yards per carry.

While Lavonte David and SirVocea Dennis were far from the only Buccaneers missing tackles, the need to upgrade the inside linebacker position was on full display on Sunday.

The defensive unit needs to get this major weakness figured out quickly if they hope to win the division next week and avoid being embarrassed on their home turf with everything on the line.