ATLANTA -- Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach Todd Bowles said Friday morning that he wishes 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 spike the ball with 0:01 left to set up a 52-yard, game-tying field goal from Atlanta kicker Younghoe Koo.
"We should have laid on 'em more. We kind of got up," Bowles said.
The Bucs had quickly gone three-and-out after a Lavonte David interception, with two negative run plays and a holding call on center Graham Barton. The Falcons then got the ball back at their own 20-yard line with 1:14 to go in regulation. The Falcons ran six offensive plays and spiked the ball twice in that period.
Bowles, who was appointed to the NFL's competition committee in August, also said that he is hopeful that the NFL can review face mask calls, or non-calls, after a blatant one was missed on running back Bucky Irving. The NFL rulebook states that "if a player grasps an opponent's facemask, he must immediately release it."
"Hopefully we can get to that and we're trying to get to that right there," Bowles said. "I think it should be reviewed from the top or at least be reviewed by the coaches, if anything else so they don't miss much calls."
The missed facemask call happened late in the fourth quarter when Falcons linebacker Kaden Elliss tackled Irving after a 7-yard run. A flag was thrown on the call but it was for Barton's holding call and not the facemask. Only Barton's facemask was called, setting up a second-and-20. Had the facemask been called, the two penalties would have offset.
Bucs running back Rachaad White also took issue with a non-call on what he felt was a hip drop tackle that happened with 1:43 to go in the fourth quarter as James Smith-Williams took him to the ground, with one of his legs pinned behind him. NFL rules state that a hip drop tackle occurs when a defender "wraps up a ball carrier and rotates or swivels his hips, unweighting himself and dropping onto ball carrier's leg."
White said, "I'm mad. I thought the guy hip-drop tackled me but it is what it is. I ain't trying to get fined."