Troy Aikman believes Todd Bowles did not put his team in the best position to win Monday night.
The ESPN analyst disagreed with the Buccaneers coach’s decision to pass on going for a potential game-winning two-point conversion in the final 30 seconds of Tampa’s 30-24 overtime loss to the Chiefs on “Monday Night Football,” and also criticized Bowles’ timeout management in that final minute.
Tampa Bay (4-5) did not touch the ball in overtime after settling for the extra point.
“I would have (gone for two), yes,” Aikman said. “I thought the entire drive that if they scored they would go for two. I just, I approach it, I’m not saying Tampa Bay should look at it and say they’re not as good as Kansas City, but when you’re on the road against the defending world champs and you’ve got them on the ropes and you get a chance to win a game on one play, I think you’ve got to do that. We’ve seen this too many times.”
The Buccaneers had a chance to steal a win Monday night against the Chiefs but Bowles opted for the conservative approach rather than a bold strategy.
Baker Mayfield found Ryan Miller for a one-yard score to bring Tampa Bay to 24-23 with 27 seconds remaining and some argued that Tampa Bay should go for the win.
Bowles ultimately settled for the extra point.
His defense did not allow a scoring drive to end regulation, but the Chiefs marched 10 plays in 70 yards to win in overtime on a two-yard touchdown run by Kareem Hunt.
Bowles said he gave “very minor” thought to going for two.
“We wanted to get it to overtime with the wet conditions on the field, we felt like we had to go into overtime instead of going for two,” Bowles said. “We had our shots. We lost the game.”
He added: “It didn’t come down to that.”
Aikman noted how Bowles did not make the decision any easier for himself by using a timeout with 33 seconds remaining and facing a first-and-goal at the one-yard line.
Using the timeout that early meant Patrick Mahomes would have ample time to potentially set up a go-ahead field goal, which could have factored into Bowles’ decision.
Had Tampa Bay run the clock closer to zero, Bowles, in theory, could have gone for two without concern Mahomes could drive the field.
“It doesn’t necessarily guarantee that they would have gone on to win,” Aikman said of going for two. “They would lose it if they don’t get into the end zone on the two-point play. I didn’t think that was handled very well with the timeout there at the end. It didn’t end up hurting them there.
“But to have it come to a coin toss in overtime to see who ultimately was going to win, unless he just had enormous confidence his defense was going to be able to make a stop, which they didn’t do. Yes, I fully expected them to go for two.”
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