Just a week ago the Tampa Bay Buccaneers controlled their playoff destiny. That changed on Monday night when the Atlanta Falcons defeated the Los Angeles Rams.
The Bucs still need to beat the Carolina Panthers on Saturday, but now they need help. If the Falcons beat the New Orleans Saints on Sunday, it won’t matter Saturday's outcome as the Bucs, Falcons, and Panthers would be tied with the same record. However, due to a better divisional record, Carolina would win the tie-breaker and the NFC South as
After a fan caught a dust up on the sideline between left tackle Tristan Wirfs and running back Bucky Irving, head coach Todd Bowles downplayed the incident, inferring there is no sort of rift in the locker room and that the culture is still intact.
"Things are not splintering from within,” Bowles said. “When you lose, players get frustrated but they still work together and they’re very close.”
A majority of this team has been in this situation before with their backs against the wall. The culture is strong enough to not allow negativity to seep into the building and there’s still belief in each other that they can get the job done.
"Winning in this league is hard,” Bowles said. “There’s no negativity inside the locker room, inside the building, as far as we’re concerned. There’s mistakes and things we’ve got to clean up…There’s trust, there’s belief. We’ve got to play harder, we’ve got to play a lot better, we’ve got to coach a lot better.”
Winning in the NFL is difficult and explains the parity across the league this season, however, the Bucs have had more talent than their opponents on both sides of the ball the last four weeks and still have lost. That points to bigger issues on the team, issues Bowles say the team needs to work on themselves, individually and together.
"It’s working on us. Obviously, working on us. Understanding the things that we did wrong so we can get right. We don’t play 48 or 60 minutes of bad football, we play spurts and we have a couple plays. We’ve got to put it together. It’s the last game – one way or the other, we’ve got to find a way to win.”
The Bucs must win on Saturday against the Panthers to keep their playoff hopes alive. However, after multiple chances to lock it up already, their destiny is no longer in their own hands.