There were two crucial mistakes made by the Bucs offense late in the fourth quarter that played a gigantic role in costing them the game in their 23-20 Wild Card loss to the Commanders. The first came early in the quarter near their own end zone when a botched exchange on a jet sweep between Baker Mayfield and Jalen McMillan ended up being a fumble recovery for Washington linebacker Bobby Wagner at the Tampa Bay 12.
The other play, which took place with just under five minutes to go, was a little more confusing.
The Play That Ended The Bucs’ Season
Tampa Bay was down 20-17 and driving with a chance to tie the game or even take the lead with 9:46 left in regulation. It looked like the Bucs were primed to score the go-ahead touchdown as Bucky Irving ripped off a 9-yard run on first down to get to the Washington 12-yard line and set up a second-and-1 situation. The second down play was an odd call that ended up with Baker Mayfield keeping the football for no gain.
Then catastrophe hit.
Bucs QB Baker Mayfield, RB Bucky Irving – Photo by: USA Today
The ensuing third down play never got off the ground as the ball was snapped early by center Graham Barton. None of the other Bucs offensive linemen were ready to block as they were not expecting the ball to be snapped at that time, so Washington immediately got into the backfield, resulting in a 2-yard loss for Irving.
Even quarterback Baker Mayfield didn’t really know what to do on the play.
It was a detriment to the Bucs on several levels. The team didn’t get what should’ve been an easy first down after having two plays to simply gain a yard. By knocking Irving back two yards, it forced Todd Bowles to decide to kick the game-tying field goal and make it 20-20 instead of going for it on fourth-and-3 from the Washington 14.
If Tampa Bay was able to get the first down, team team is only 11 to 10 yards away from scoring a touchdown and taking a 24-20 lead. Furthermore, the Bucs would’ve been able to control the clock even longer with likely three minutes or less to go, giving Washington less time to answer. Even if the Bucs were stopped and kicked a closer field goal, it’s still less time for the Commanders to operate.
But instead, the botched snap happened, the Bucs tied it up at 20-20 and the Commanders got the ball with 4:41 to go. What happened next was very predictable. Tampa Bay’s defense couldn’t get off the field, never got the ball back to the offense as Washington got into a field range and kicked the 37-yard game-winning field goal on the last play of the game to win, 23-20.
It was a very tough way for the Bucs’ season to end, especially when the kick by Zane Gonzalez doinked off the upright but still went in. Tampa Bay squandered many opportunities to win this game on both sides of the ball, but Barton’s last, ill-timed snap really sticks out.
Bucs’ Graham Barton, Baker Mayfield, Explain What Went Wrong
Bucs QB Baker Mayfield – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR
Following the game, rookie center Graham Barton gave a breakdown on what exactly went wrong and why the ball was snapped early.
“Snapped on the wrong cadence, I was trying to get a call out,” Barton said. “Got to have better discipline there. Got to be able to sit in there and get my calls out. What I thought I heard was the time to snap the ball. That one’s one me, got to be better down the stretch. It’s the fourth quarter of a playoff game, you have to be able to execute in moments like that.
“Definitely disappointed in me for that one, but like I said, just down the stretch in a playoff game like that, we as a team have got to make more plays, have less errors than we did in a playoff game like that.”
Baker Mayfield also weighed in on the mishap.
“Yeah, trying to get them to jump offsides,” Mayfield said. “I think he thought they did jump offsides or in the neutral zone. Yeah, just one of those things he thought that happened, but just goes back to everybody being on the same page and everybody moving when he snaps the ball and execute the play, and that’s absolutely not what happened.”
