ATLANTA — Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach Todd Bowles said Friday morning that he wishes his defense would have done more to slow the Atlanta Falcons on their final drive of regulation in Thursday night’s 36-30 overtime loss.
Instead, the Falcons were able to spike the ball with 0:01 left to set up a 52-yard, game-tying field goal from Falcons kicker Younghoe Koe.
“We should have laid on ’em more. We kinda got up,” Bowles said.
The Bucs had quickly gone three and out after a Lavonte David interception, with two negative run plays and a holding call on center Graham Barton . The Falcons then got the ball back at their own 20-yard line with 1:14 to go in regulation. The Falcons ran six offensive plays and spiked the ball twice in that period.
Bowles, who was appointed to the NFL Competition Committee in August, also said that he is hopeful that the NFL can review facemasks calls, or non-calls after a blatant one was missed on running back Bucky Irving . The NFL rulebook states that “if a player grasps an opponent’s facemask, he must immediately release it.”