TAMPA ― There’s no need for a forensic breakdown of the Bucs’ 34-23 loss to the Bengals Sunday. No reason to shake it or hold it up to the sun looking for clues of the collapse.
For the past three games, quarterback Tom Brady has provided some souvenir footballs to his opponents ― both signed and unsigned — and the results have been predictably disastrous.
Over his first 11 games, Brady had only four turnovers. In the last three, he has had seven.
That included two interceptions and two lost fumbles in the second half Sunday that helped lead to 24 of the 34 straight points scored by the Bengals.
“Turnovers hurt any team,” Bucs coach Todd Bowles said Monday. “It’s hurting us big time. Whether it’s the quarterback, whether it’s a fumble by the running backs, special teams or whether it’s the defense not getting the turnovers are big for us not winning right now.
“Because they’re crucial in keeping a short field. I think the short field (Sunday) was probably the whole second half. It’s tough to play a team like that with that kind of talent and play on half the field.”
Bowles is correct. The Bengals took advantage of Brady’s miscues to begin drives at the Tampa Bay 31, 13 and 39. That didn’t include a fake punt mishandled by running back Giovani Bernard that allowed the Bengals to take over at the Tampa Bay 16.
In the Bucs’ 35-7 loss at San Francisco the previous week, Brady was intercepted twice. He benevolently agreed to sign the football from one of those interceptions for 49ers linebacker Dre Greenlaw after the game.
Sunday’s loss was a tale of two halves, especially for Brady. He led the Bucs to a 17-3 lead in the first half by going 17-of-23 passing for 194 yards and two touchdowns. But in the second half, he went 13-of-21 for 118 yards with one touchdown, two interceptions and a pair of lost fumbles.
“We had a good first half,” Brady said Sunday. “We were in good position. We just gave them the ball. So if you give them the ball, obviously we can’t score, and they’re a good offense, so they scored. They took advantage.”
It’s too bad, because the Bucs showed a lot of improvement on offense in the first half with some new wrinkles and creativity.
They utilized more pre-snap motion, ran an end-around with rookie receiver Devin Thompkins, faked a tunnel screen and ran a draw play instead.
“We played good,” Brady said. “I think we have the ability to play good. I don’t think we lack confidence in playing good. It’s just consistency. Two good quarters doesn’t win you any football games, and five turnovers (including a turnover on downs on the fake punt) doesn’t win any football games.”
Receiver Mike Evans, who had trouble hooking up with Brady the past few weeks, had five catches for 83 yards on seven targets in the first half but no receptions on only three targets in the second.
“They adjusted a few things,” Bowles said of the Bengals defense. “A couple times we had him open on a few and didn’t have time to protect (Brady), or the read went the other way. So, a lot of things came about with that.”
Of course, every turnover has its own story, and Sunday’s were no exception. Poor pass protection resulted in a sack and Brady’s first lost fumble. The other fumble was a poorly executed handoff to running back Leonard Fournette.
The final interception was the result of Brady being hit as he threw a pass.
Because of the turnovers, much of what the Bucs did in the first half will be forgotten. But it demonstrated that the they have enough ability to score points against a quality opponent.
“It shows you how good we can be if you can be consistent,” Bowles said. “And the bright spot there — obviously we lost the game, so there’s nothing that replaces that — but going forward it shows you what we can do.”
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