Linebacker Sean Weatherspoon of the Atlanta Falcons celebrates after a tackle against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday. The Falcons won 24 – 23.(Photo: Al Messerschmidt, Getty Images)
Story Highlights
- Falcons improved to 10-1 with the victory and have a four-game lead in the NFC South
- Atlanta has won eight of the last nine games against the Buccaneers
- The 24-23 loss snapped the Bucs’ four-game winning streak
12:07AM EST November 26. 2012 – This is separation time in the NFL. Will the real contenders please stand up?
After a gut-wrenching 24-23 loss at Raymond James Stadium on Sunday, it is apparent the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are not in that number. Not here. Not now. The Atlanta Falcons, with so much to prove themselves, made sure of that.
What a measuring stick. The playoff-bound Falcons (10-1) have had the Bucs’ number, much like the New Orleans Saints have been a nemesis to Atlanta. When the Falcons and Bucs last met, in the 2011 regular-season finale, Atlanta had a 42-0 lead in the second quarter of a blowout that marked Raheem Morris’ last stand as Tampa Bay coach.
BOX SCORE: Falcons 24, Bucs 23[1]
RECAP: Atlanta, now 10-1, keeps rolling[2]
A one-point loss under the new coach, Greg Schiano, marks progress. But it’s still eight Atlanta victories in the last nine games of this series. And the narrow defeat stings a lot more than the last blowout.
This setback killed the momentum of a four-game winning streak and dropped the Bucs to 6-5.
Technically, the Bucs didn’t lose ground in the race for the NFC’s sixth playoff seed, with the Seattle Seahawks, New Orleans Saints and Minnesota Vikings also losing Sunday. But this time of year, not winning is losing an opportunity, which was pretty much the theme of the day for the Bucs.
Having beaten one team with a winning record this season, the Bucs could have made a major statement as one of the NFL’s biggest surprises.
Instead, they showed they are not quite ready to handle an upper-echelon team — especially the one that keeps getting the best of them. Bucs quarterback Josh Freeman said of the pattern against the Falcons, “Each game, it’s a new game.” True enough, but the bottom line has been pretty much the same.
The difference Sunday was that the winning team demonstrated, as it has repeatedly this season, that it can scratch out victories when it seemed doomed to lose. That could benefit Atlanta in January, when it has been unable to win in the three playoff chances under coach Mike Smith.
Last week, Matt Ryan threw five interceptions and the Falcons won. This time, Matt Bryant hooked a chip-shot field goal attempt wide left and an earlier drive stalled in the red zone.
“Every game is not going to be a blowout,” said Falcons cornerback Dunta Robinson, mindful that eight of their 11 games have been decided by seven points or fewer. “But this team has the will to win.”
The scrappy Bucs want to win, too. But they’re still in the process of learning to do this on a consistent basis. Plenty of lessons hit them right between the eyes Sunday.
“Missed opportunities, a big part of it,” Schiano said in the understatement of the day.
The squandered chances included the inability to punch it into the end zone from the 1-yard line, even with wondrous rookie running back Doug Martin in tow.
On the flip side, the Bucs took the lead for 11 seconds in the third quarter — only to see it wiped out when Ryan connected with Julio Jones for an 80-yard touchdown. This was aided by the Bucs’ misfortune of having Leonard Johnson matched in single coverage against Jones, who finished his day with six catches for 147 yards.
Then there was Schiano’s decision to attempt a 56-yard field goal by Connor Barth with 3:32 remaining in the game. That offered a different type of frustration.
Schiano gambled on one of the strongest legs in the NFL, but the short kick never came close. Schiano insisted afterward that he would make the same call, reiterating the confidence he has in his kicker. Plus, he said, he liked that the wind was blowing in from the end of the stadium that is adorned by the huge pirate ship.
“It’s not like every day he has to hit a 56-yarder and we call it a day,” Schiano said.
The Falcons ran all but the final eight seconds off the clock. Even if Barth had made the field goal, it would not have clinched a victory. There would have been more than three minutes left — plenty of time for Ryan to mount a comeback.
So the unconventional decision in such a tight game stung the Bucs, too.
Said Bucs defensive tackle Gerald McCoy, “It was one of those, ‘They made one or two more plays than we did’ type of games.”
That’s usually the case in the NFL, with more than half of the games decided by a single score. And those plays separate the wannabes from the contenders.
