The Atlanta Falcons snatched victory from the jaws of defeat in Thursday night's game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers inside Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
Tampa Bay thought it had won. Linebacker Lavonte David intercepted Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins with 1:44 to play in the fourth quarter, giving the Buccaneers the ball with a three-point lead. They were already in field goal range and appeared poised to pad their advantage.
Instead, penalties knocked Tampa Bay backwards, and they had to punt. The Falcons drove 46 yards on five plays, nailed a game-tying 52-yard field goal at the buzzer and scored a walk-off 45-yard touchdown in overtime en route to a 36-30 triumph.
The Buccaneers, who had a 93% chance to win with 22 seconds remaining, walked off the field with a soul-snatching defeat. Left tackle Tristan Wirfs, speaking at his locker postgame, didn't mince words.
"I'm pissed," Wirfs said. "It was right there. They gave it to us. They threw the Lavonte pick and said, 'Here you go. You guys win.' And we shi--ed down our leg. So, we need to move on."
Buccaneers head coach Todd Bowles, who's wandered NFL sidelines for two decades, said it was one of the toughest losses he's suffered in a while.
"Just got to learn how to close out games," Bowles said. "We had opportunities on both sides of the ball. We didn't finish. Did some good things. We did a lot of bad things to lose the ball game. So, we'll get some rest, we'll some guys healthy, and we'll get ready for next week.
"We’ve got a good football team. We didn't finish the game."
Tampa Bay was either tied or in the lead for the entire second half. Before receiver KhaDarel Hodge's game-winning touchdown, Atlanta's last lead was before the two-minute warning in the first half.
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The Buccaneers' defense allowed 550 net yards, watching as Cousins set single-game Falcons records with 42 completions for 509 yards. Still, Tampa Bay feels it should have won -- which only worsened the emotions of safety Christian Izien.
"Pretty distraught," Izien said. "Because we leave it all out there every week, and when you don’t get the outcome you want, it’s kind of disheartening. So go back, review the film and be ready for the next one."
Atlanta's defense, conversely, finished strong. After allowing three touchdowns and a field goal on Tampa Bay's four-full first half drives, the Falcons gave up just six points in the second half.
But Bowles believes the Buccaneers deserve as much blame as the Falcons receive credit.
"They made some adjustments, but we missed a lot of plays, too," Bowles said. "We missed a lot of plays. We can't play the Bucs and the Falcons."
Tampa Bay's final offensive drive -- when a first down would have effectively ended the game, and a field goal would have forced Atlanta to score a touchdown with no timeouts and a minute to work -- featured three plays, 30 seconds of clock and a net loss of 14 yards.
To Wirfs, this is the hardest part to swallow.
"We had an opportunity to close it out, and we didn't," Wirfs said. "So, it sucks. We have three days to let it steep. It should hurt, it should suck. Just give it a couple weeks, we have the Saints next week and then the (Falcons) are coming to Tampa a couple weeks after that. Gotta move on. It sucks."
Atlanta and Tampa Bay are both 3-2 and now tied atop the NFC South. Had the Buccaneers finished Thursday night victorious, they'd have a two-game edge in the division. Instead, they're deadlocked. with Atlanta holding the head-to-head tie breaker.
And the Falcons get a much sweeter mini-bye week before returning to action in Week 6 against the Panthers.
