4 Buccaneers who deserve blame for 36-30 overtime loss to Falcons

As the sounds of the Atlanta Falcons celebrating in their locker room vibrated behind him, Baker Mayfield stood in front of the media and took the blame for what had just happened.

Tampa Bay literally fumbled away a golden opportunity to start the season 4-1, blowing all of the momentum it had built up over four quarters to lose in the final minutes. The Bucs failed to close Atlanta out, let them sneak back into the game to force overtime and then buckled under the pressure.

Despite what it may feel like, the sky is not falling, and the Bucs' season is far from over. In fact, they're still firmly in the playoff picture through five weeks and are just a win away from getting back into first place in the NFC South. Next week's game in New Orleans is a perfect get-back matchup, and there's a chance for another statement win a week later against the Baltimore Ravens.

If that's going to happen, Tampa Bay is going to need to play much cleaner football than it did on Thursday night. Baker might have accepted blame, but he's not the reason the Bucs lost and his admirable act of leadership is shielding a handful of players who otherwise would be under the microscope for helping cause the collapse..

Buccaneers who deserve the most blame for overtime loss to Falcons

Bucky Irving

Everyone is going to be talking about the way the game ended in overtime, but Bucky Irving had a play that was even more brutal because it led to what happened.

With under three minutes left, Irving was racing for what looked like a potential game-sealing first down when he coughed up the football. Other factors after ultimately led to the overtime loss, but that moment saw the Buccaneers quite literally fumble the game away.

It just can't happen, and it spoiled what was yet another fantastic night for Irving out of the backfield. The rookie has been a revelation for the Bucs this year, as he's already totaled over 230 total yards and a touchdown in his first five games. He's also a playmaking threat capable of ripping off backbreaking plays for an opposing defense, something we've seen even in the loss to Denver.

He was barrelling toward yet another performance like that, but failed to hang on in every sense. That fumble wasn't the sole reason the Bucs lost the game, but it's a big reason why they didn't win.

Jamel Dean

It's been 34 games since Jamel Dean last had an interception, which is the least of his concerns when it comes to criticism of his game. Two weeks ago Todd Bowles called him out for playing too soft against the Denver Broncos, a game that saw the Bucs secondary get cooked by the worst quarterback in the league.

Bo Nix eating Dean's lunch was bad, but the way he showed some of the same mistakes he's been prone to in a game like we saw on Thursday night is worse. Every player has a game or two where they're just off, but for Dean it's been almost two years of waiting for him to become the CB1 he's being paid to be.

He was bailed out on what was perhaps his worst play of the night. Darnell Mooney dropped what should have been an easy touchdown because Dean was playing such soft coverage that he was al turned around six yards behind him.

If Mooney doesn't drop that pass, it's a walk-in touchdown. Still, for as bad as the drop was, Dean is still somehow the worst part about the play. He can't continue to play like this, especially with Zyon McCollum taking the steps forward that he is and the secondary needing another playmaker to help shut things down.

That's supposed to be Dean, but it hasn't been for quite some time.

Buccaneers Hurry-Up Defense

Thursday was one of the worst games of the season that the defense has turned in. Whatever happened against the Broncos was bad, but Kirk Cousins cooked Tampa Bay's secondary for over 500 yards and looked like he was in control the whole night.

The Bucs were particularly bad when the Falcons went to a hurry-up offense. Atlanta caught Tampa Bay napping to extend more than a few drives, including a fourth quarter touchdown that evened the score.

It appeared the Bucs had gotten a nice stop, with Joe Tryon-Shoyinka and Zyon McCollum stuffing Tyler Allgiers to force fourth down. As the Bucs ran down the field celebrating, the Falcons ran back to the line to run a fourth down play and easily converted. The pressure wasn't there, Tykee Smith was out of position, and Darnell Mooney had an easy score.

Had the Bucs gotten a stop there, overtime likely wouldn't have been needed.

Even if they didn't score off the turnover on downs, the blow to Atlanta's confidence would have been something that had a lasting impact beyond just that drive -- not to mention the difference on the scoreboard. Instead, it was a perfect encapsulation of everything that went wrong for the defense, from bad tackling to poor playmaking, that ultimately led to an absolutely brutal loss.

Jake Camarda

For the second straight week Jake Camarda was a healthy scratch for the Bucs. Underperformance has forced him to the bench, and his absence was felt in a big way late in the game on Thursday night.

After the Bucs forced a turnover in Falcons territory, but got backed out of field goal range thanks to a holding penalty, Trenton Gill came on to punt and booted the ball into the endzone. Atlanta got the ball at the 20 and marched down to kick a game-tying field goal as time expired in regulation.

It's hard not think about how different that sequence could have been if Camarda had been active and kicking like we know he's capable of.

Rather than a touchback, there's a decent chance that Camarda coffin corners a kick and pins the Falcons deep. He might even have them inside of their own five yard line, which completely changes the way the last minute of the game goes.

Maybe Atlanta still gets down to kick a field goal, but they wouldn't have been spotted a twenty yard advantage. The underperformance of Camarda so far this season has been frustrating to watch, but Thursday night is the first time it might have impacted Tampa Bay's success.

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