TAMPA, Fla. — Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach Todd Bowles said his team not using its final timeout in the Bucs’ 31-23 divisional round playoff loss to the Detroit Lions was not a matter of coaching etiquette.
Instead, he said, it was recognizing that “the game was over.”
“It’s not a gentlemen’s agreement,” Bowles said Monday. “They were in field goal range. We’d have had 12 seconds, calculated, after using that timeout to come back from it. Then we’d have been down 11 points, so it’s kind of pointless. You kind of know when the game is over. The game was over.”
With the Bucs trailing 31-23, quarterback Baker Mayfield was intercepted by Lions inside linebacker Derrick Barnes with 1:39 to go. Lions quarterback Jared Goff proceeded to take a knee on three consecutive snaps, with his final kneel-down at 37 seconds. Center Frank Ragnow snapped the ball with 14 seconds left on the play clock.
Lions coach Dan Campbell said he was aware that the Bucs had a final timeout left and could have gone down the field.