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The Tampa Bay Buccaneers collapsed against the Atlanta Falcons on Thursday Night Football. The Bucs failed to put Atlanta away despite building a 14-point fourth-quarter lead in their home stadium. Kirk Cousins delivered for the Falcons with three scoring drives in the final quarter, including the game winner. Tampa Bay fell to 7-7 with the brutal 29-28 defeat.
The Buccaneers have lost back-to-back games to division rivals who’ve already been eliminated from playoff contention. With the season circling the drain, Baker Mayfield took the blame for the team’s latest defeat. “Disappointing obviously. But it falls on my shoulders. Can’t turn the ball over. Can’t have that interception. And then, gotta hit Emeka [Egbuka] in stride on that third down,” Mayfield told reporters.
“Listen, you can say what you want about being up two scores and the defense right there. But we have to be better on offense. It comes down to how I play. This one ‘s going to haunt me. This falls on my shoulders.”
"This one's gonna haunt me, this falls on my shoulders."
—Baker Mayfield after the Bucs loss to the Falcons pic.twitter.com/1KZUWdArFx
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) December 12, 2025
The Buccaneers took a 28-14 lead with a touchdown at the beginning of the fourth quarter. The Falcons answered back but still trailed by eight after failing on the two-point conversion. Then Mayfield threw an interception, which Atlanta capitalized on.
While the Falcons pulled within two points, the Buccaneers still had the ball with 3:35 to go. A sustained, clock-killing drive would give Tampa Bay the narrow victory.
Unfortunately, the Bucs were forced to punt and Atlanta took over with 1:49 left in the game. Cousins led a nine-play, 45-yard drive, setting up Zane Gonzalez’s game-winning field goal as time expired.
Although Mayfield and the offense certainly deserve some blame for the ugly loss, the defense came up small on Thursday night. The Falcons faced a 3rd & 28 and then a 4th & 14 on the final drive. But the Buccaneers couldn’t get a stop when it mattered most.
Todd Bowles lashed out at the team after the game. Tampa Bay’s head coach was furious with the effort of some of his players. And you know it’s serious if Bowles delivers profanity-laced postgame comments.
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