Poor clock management, coaching decisions doom Bucs in OT loss vs. Browns

Questionable coaching decisions and poor clock management cost the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Sunday’s overtime loss to the Cleveland Browns

There are plenty of reasons why the Tampa Bay Buccaneers lost 23-17 to the Cleveland Browns in overtime Sunday, but it’s hard not to place the lion’s share of the blame on head coach Todd Bowles.

Not only did Bowles make some questionable decisions late in the game that kept forcing his defense back out on the field, but his head-scratching clock management in the final minutes of regulation cost the Bucs precious time they could have used to mount a game-winning drive that would have avoided overtime altogether.

Early in the fourth quarter, the Bucs had a seven-point lead, and had driven the ball down into Cleveland territory with a chance to extend their advantage to two scores. Facing a 4th-and-2 from the Browns’ 37-yard line, Bowles opted to take a delay of game penalty and punt the ball away, instead of trying to pick up two yards to extend the drive and set up at least a field goal attempt. Jake Camarda’s punt was a touchback, netting the Bucs only a 15-yard advantage instead of just trying to get the first down.

On their following possession, after the Tampa Bay defense stopped Cleveland on downs, the Bucs faced a 4th-and-3 from the Cleveland 48-yard line, once again opting to punt. This kick pinned the Browns at their own 5-yard line, but a stellar punt from Cleveland at the end of that drive sent the Bucs back to their own 20. They lost 10 yards on three plays, and punted it away again. The field position wasn’t quite as good as the first time the Bucs could have gone for it on 4th-and-short, but it was another missed opportunity to potentially put the game away, instead of forcing the defense back out onto the field with little rest.

Then came the clock management debacle on the Browns’ game-tying touchdown drive in the final minutes.

After Lavonte David made a fantastic stop on a screen pass to David Njoku, the Browns were facing 4th-and-10 from Tampa Bay’s 12-yard line, with 1:10 left on the clock. The Bucs had all three of their timeouts, but Bowles chose not to use one of them, letting more than half a minute tick off the clock before Njoku made a ridiculous one-handed touchdown catch to tie the game.

That mistake gave Tom Brady and the Bucs offense just 32 seconds to drive down and set up a potential game-winning field goal, but they still had all three of their timeouts.

Why then, did Bowles still not use one after Brady hit Rachaad White for a short gain, when there were still 26 seconds on the clock? Instead, the clock ran down to 14 seconds before Brady snapped the ball again, hitting Julio Jones for a 26-yard gain that put them near midfield.

Tampa Bay finally called their first timeout then, but with only eight seconds remaining.

Brady’s next pass was a short one to Cameron Brate that fell incomplete with just two seconds left, forcing them into a failed Hail Mary attempt on the final play of regulation, leading to overtime.

After the game, Bowles was about his questionable clock management, and his answer didn’t make much sense:

Had Bowles directed his offense to go for it on either of those 4th-and-short opportunities, the Bucs could have added points to expand their lead, forcing the Browns to score twice to even up the game in the fourth quarter. It also could have given his defense more time to rest before defending the Browns’ late attempts to tie things up.

Had Bowles used his first timeout after David’s clutch stop on third down, Brady and the offense would have had a full minute after the game-tying touchdown to march down the field for a potential game-winning field goal, with still two timeouts at their disposal.

Instead, he played too conservative on those fourth down situations, and let precious time tick away with the game on the line, leaving to timeouts on the board as they headed to overtime.

The Bucs could have done plenty of things differently in this game to cause a better outcome, but the blame starts at the top.

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