Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports
A win is a win, but this was an ugly one.
Todd Bowles’ defense remains severely undisciplined and prone to communication breakdown, which happened on two Falcons touchdowns. Offenses are able to find easy pockets to pass through in Bowles’ scheme and he still brought the blitz against a quarterback that was notably good against it all year. He also is fortunate that the Bucs’ offense managed to get the job done in 12 plays at the end of the game, as he had just one timeout in his pocket from a failed challenge and an early timeout in the third quarter.
Dave Canales also had a down game. His play call on fourth and short to pitch to Rachaad White was misguided, and he was unable to get the ball moving in short-yardage situations all day. He deserves some credit for knowing when to run when the Falcons were playing two-shell high defense, but he called an overall uninspiring game that produced more points than it should have.
With 29 total points (the second most the team has scored all year), it’s weird to criticize coaching as much as we’ve done here. But self-inflicted wounds from Atlanta kept Tampa Bay in this game, and given how it played out, they still managed to make the game close despite the help. This simply won’t be good enough to close out the division with Tampa Bay’s remaining schedule.
