The Tampa Bay Buccaneers were on the wrong side of a shootout on Thursday night, falling 36-30 to the Atlanta Falcons in overtime.  

Falcons QB Kirk Cousins did what Kirk Cousins does against the Bucs: pretty much whatever he wants.  This time, he did it to the tune of an Atlanta franchise record 509 passing yards on 42 of 58 attempts with 4 touchdowns.  The last one to KhaDarel Hodge for 45 yards walked it off for Atlanta in the extra frame.  

It's the second straight year the Bucs have been torched to an alarming degree.  The Bucs allowed then-rookie C.J. Stroud to carve them up for a rookie-record 470 passing yards in a 39-37 last-second loss last season. 

That could have been chalked up to a bad day at the office.  This one is far more concerning.  And that's because of an unbelievably gaping hole in the middle of the Bucs' defense in #52 K.J. Britt.  And the absence of #8 SirVocea Dennis to help stop the bleeding there.  

Britt was picked on early and often, looking out of place and chasing constantly in the Bucs' zone coverage looks.  The Bucs didn't – although the absolutely should have – switch up to man coverage all that much during the game, presumably to try to help avoid putting Britt one on one with Kyle Pitts or a wide receiver who could eat his lunch in coverage. 

But sometimes you've got to try something if what you're doing isn't working, and the Bucs simply didn't.  And there was no Dennis, who's significantly better in coverage, to slip on the field.

And according to Todd Bowles on Friday morning, Dennis, who was placed on injured reserve earlier this week, won't be back any time soon to help fill the void. 

"We're not counting on him anytime soon," Bowles said. "We're not counting on him anytime soon. His shoulder was kind of messed up this summer.  We kind of knew it was a touch and go thing type there.  So, we'll see how he comes around, and we'll play it week by week." 

Britt's struggles were accurately represented in a 38.3 Pro Football Focus defensive grade for the game, lowest among the Bucs' 20 defenders.  Beyond just the issues with Britt in the middle of the field, matters for the defense were made worse in the passing game when they lost safety Jordan Whitehead to a groin injury in the second half, after which the wheels came off for the defense.

There's no doubt the injuries have hit this team hard.  Yaya Diaby went down in addition to Whitehead.  Lavonte David went down as well but was able to return.  But the absence of Whitehead and Antoine Winfield, Jr. on the back end were too much for this group to overcome in crunch time on Friday.  Too much knowledge and communication were lost.

It's likely the Bucs will have both safeties back sooner than later.  But what they will still have is a major hole in the middle of their defense for opponents to exploit.  Britt was off the field for a reason in favor of Dennis in key passing situations, and that was put on full display on Thursday night for all to see.  

As the NFL is a copycat league, Bowles and his staff are going to have to get to work over the mini bye they have before they face the New Orleans Saints a week from Sunday.  There's no doubt Dennis Allen and his coaches are looking at what Atlanta did against the Bucs' zone, particularly in the middle of the field, and are already working to take advantage. 

The NFL is about adapting to challenges, and that's exactly what Bowles is going to have to do quickly.  Because if they don't, their upcoming murderers' row stretch of games could derail this season very quickly. 

Baker Mayfield shines plenty of light on a key problem in the Bucs’ bad loss to the Falcons

Just to be 100% clear: The Tampa Bay Buccaneers defense was the primary reason the Atlanta Falcons won the Week 5 matchup in such dramatic fashion. Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins torched the Todd Bowles' defense all night long and the end result was not only a win, but Atlanta's 550 yards of total offense are […]