Todd Bowles wishes Bucs could have stopped the Falcons’ game-winning drive

ATLANTA – Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach Todd Bowles said Friday morning that he wished his defense had 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 score a game-winning 52-yard field goal by Atlanta kicker Younghoe Koo with 0:01 left.

“We should have put more emphasis on them. We kind of got up,” Bowles said.

The Bucs quickly took the lead after an interception by Lavonte David, with two negative run plays and a hold call on center Graham Barton. The Falcons then got the ball back at their own 20-yard line with 1:14 left in regulation. The Falcons ran six offensive plays and turned the ball over twice during that period.

Bowles, who was appointed to the NFL’s competition committee in August, also said he was confident the NFL could review the mask requirement or non-requirement after an obvious decision was overlooked with running back Bucky Irving. The NFL rulebook states: “If a player grabs an opponent’s facemask, he must immediately release it.”

“Hopefully we can get there, and we’re trying to get there,” Bowles said. “I think it should be checked from above or at least checked by the coaches, if at all, so they don’t miss a lot of calls.”

The missed facemask call occurred late in the fourth quarter when Falcons linebacker Kaden Elliss tackled Irving after a 7-yard run. A flag was raised on the call, but it was for Barton’s held call and not the face mask. Only Barton’s Facemask was called, creating a seconds-and-20 event. Had the face mask been called, the two penalties would have offset each other.

Bucs running back Rachaad White also had trouble with a non-call for what he thought was a hip-drop tackle that happened with 1:43 left in the fourth quarter when James Smith-Williams brought him to the ground with one of his legs behind him pinned. NFL rules state that a hip-drop tackle occurs when a defender “wraps a ball carrier and rotates or pivots his hips, releasing himself and falling onto the ball carrier’s leg.”

White said: “I’m crazy. I thought the hip drop guy was attacking me, but it is what it is. I’m not trying to get fined.”