Todd Bowles wastes zero time calling out Bucs veteran for boneheaded play that helped them lose to Falcons
One of the Bucs veterans made a crucial mistake against the Falcons and it paved the way for their devastating win on Thursday Night Football.
Todd Bowles warned everyone about what was coming after the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ frustrating loss to the Atlanta Falcons on Thursday Night Football.
“[The] fourth-and-long, it was a big blunder,” Bowles told reporters. “That was inexcusable. Inexcusable… Watch the tape, I’m sure you can see it.”
The play Bowles is referring to is the infamous fourth and 14 that saw Kirk Cousins connect with David. Sills V for a first down. And he’s right – once you watch the tape, you can see exactly what happened, and Bowles had no issue calling it out when he spoke with reporters on Monday.
Kindle Vildor couldn’t commit to the chains, and it cost the Bucs
The veteran cornerback was stuck in between a rock and a hard place with David Sills going over the top of him and Bijan Robinson leaking out into the flat. However, in actuality, it wasn’t as difficult as Vildor had processed.
“Credit where credit is due for Atlanta. In the biggest moment of the game, they found the biggest question mark on Tampa Bay’s depth chart, and rightfully attacked him.
There was nothing particularly exotic or complicated around the coverage assignments — the Bucs ran Tampa 2 with a chance to get off the field and seal the game. But with Zyon McCollum out with a hip injury, cornerback Kindle Vildor was assigned the boundary flat.
The Falcons simply ran WR David Sills V on an outside release vertical that settled down past the sticks, while RB Bijan Robinson released to that side to run a swing as the checkdown. Vildor tried to split the leverage between both players, leaving too much space between his coverage and safety Antoine Winfield Jr. in the deep half. QB Kirk Cousins was completely unaffected by Tampa Bay’s four-man rush, which allowed him to step up into a throw and juice a ball into the “honey hole” in Cover 2.
At the end of the day, Vildor was put in conflict, but he had to sink and play the sticks. In settling down to try to split the swing route and the vertical from Sills, he provided a massive throwing window for Cousins to attack and guide the receiver into. Robinson’s swing route was four yards behind the line of scrimmage as the ball was released — he needs to sink, take the throw at the sticks away, and trust himself (and his teammates) to rally up and make the tackle short of the line to gain.
Sure, it’s logical from Vildor’s perspective to keep an eye on Robinson, especially when considering how he just destroyed the Bucs in the open field all night long. That’s when the overthinking aspect comes in, though, and he should’ve just continued to drift toward the sticks. If Cousins dumped it off, Bucs defenders would’ve attempted to rally and tackle or force Robinson out of bounds before reaching the first down marker.” – Kyle Crabbs, A to Z NFL
Bowles makes it very clear Vildor should’ve left Robinson unattended
He left zero room for interpretation on the Monday morning after the game: The conversion was on Vildor.
“That’s his job,” Bowles confirmed when asked if he wanted Vildor to pay attention to the chains and not Robinson. “(The matchup) doesn’t make it hard at all on 4th and 14.”
It’s a tough situation because Bowles and Co. must’ve made that clear to Vildor beforehand, or he should at least know that being an NFL veteran. No matter if it’s a player like Robinson, players have to trust the call and execute. Unless there’s a freak occurrence, good things come out of that kind of process, and as we saw last night, it’s the opposite when the trust isn’t there.
Bucs have to clean this up, or they’ll miss the playoffs
Right now, the Bucs and Panthers are trending in opposite directions. If Tampa Bay doesn’t clean up its act, then the Panthers will get the sweep and end the four-game NFC South championship streak.
This kind of mistake shouldn’t be happening in this particular situation. It’s 4th and 14 – you protect the down and distance at all costs. You want guys catching the ball underneath, in front of the defense, and having to outrun guys to get the first.
What you don’t want is a clean attempt to move the chains that can get it done in one fell swoop. That’s exactly what Vildor handed to the Falcons, and it cost the Bucs a crucial matchup that they should’ve won.
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