6 Buccaneers who deserve blame after brutal 39-37 loss to Texans

Ryan Neal

What more is there to say?

For a fourth straight week Ryan Neal was on the wrong side of big plays. The only upside is that this time he wasn't involved in giving up the game-winning play on defense. Neal wasn't even on the field for the Tank Dell touchdown with 0:06 left, but he was for a few other big plays that helped lead to that moment.

Houston started the second half by ripping off a 75-yard touchdown pass to Noah Brown. Like clockwork, Neal was there to watch Brown skate past him on his way to the endzone.

This has become a pattern, with Neal being on the wrong side of a play that ends up having a game-changing impact. He was in coverage on the Jameson Williams touchdown against Detroit, gave up the Kyle Pitts catch that set up a walk-off Falcons win, and blew coverage on Dalton Kincaid that negated a 10-point swing the Bucs mustered against the Bills.

When asked about Neal's coverage mistakes after the loss in Buffalo, Todd Bowles sternly shut the question down. While he didn't throw Neal under the bus in front of the media, he ended up subbing him out during Sunday's loss. It was a long time coming, and it's yet to be seen if Neal has lost his starting job to Dee Delaney, but at least a move was finally made.

It took four games and multiple blown coverages, and Neal managed to sneak one more in before finally getting pulled.