6 Buccaneers to blame after embarrassing loss to Falcons
By Josh Hill
Robert Hainsey, Cody Mauch, and Matt Feiler
Perhaps no roster group represents how the good start masked deeply rooted problems than what's happening up front on the offensive line. Tristan Wirfs is rightfully being praised as one of the top left tackles in the league -- despite having only played six games there -- and Luke Goedeke has taken a huge step forward as his replacement at right tackle.
Outside of that, there's almost nothing to love about the Bucs offense line, and the success of those two guys has steered attention away from how bad things are on the interior. It's a cavalcade of chaos, something that was on full display in Sunday's loss to Atlanta.
Tampa Bay ended up committing nine penalties, but six of them went against the offense with five going against guys in the interior offensive line. Matt Feiler and Robert Hainsey combined for three false start penalties while Cody Mauch was called for holding. Hainsey was flagged twice in three plays for holding and a false start -- all of this amounting to 35 yards lost to penalties.
It wasn't just penalties that the offensive line used to move the team backward, as Baker Mayfield was sacked three times for 19 yards. In total, the Bucs offensive line gave up 54 yards in the wrong direction in a game that was lost by three points. Field position was everything on Sunday and a lot of the stunted momentum that sunk the Bucs can be attributed to how mind-numbingly bad the play up front was.
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