Tampa Bay Buccaneers Suffer Heartbreak in Atlanta

For 59 minutes and 37 seconds, Raheem Morris coordinated and his Tampa Bay Buccaneers put forth one great defensive effort in Atlanta.

It was that 23 second mark that sent it all down the drain.

With just 23 seconds to play Sunday in the Falcon-Dome, backup quarterback Chris Redman fired one laser of a pass to Roddy White and the Buccaneers had their hearts broken.

Heartbreaking was the 20-17 final tally that spelled the 10th loss of the season for Tampa Bay.

It was heartbreaking because Morris showed why he should have been the defensive coordinator for this team, and perhaps not its head coach.

The return to the old "Tampa Two" was a breath of fresh air for this trampled defense. The Jim Bates nightmare was gone.

There were no long bombs by Atlanta, there were no long runs, in fact, not much running at all. Atlanta managed just 75 yards on the ground. It's not a misprint. SEVENTY-FIVE yards rushing, not 275!

Six sacks and constant pressure on the quarterback. It was enough pressure to get Atlanta starter Matt Ryan out of the game after the first series.

Yes, the breaks were going Tampa Bay's way. Ryan out with an injury and running back extraordinaire Michael Turner would follow him to the bench early, taking two key Falcon weapons away.

Yes, we all saw it with our own eyes. The defense was thriving. Players were swarming to the football, passes were broken up and runners were gang-tackled. Looked like an old Tony Dungy team.

Indeed, Josh Freeman did his part with 20 completions for 250 yards and a pair of TDs, one to Antonio Bryant, the other to Cadillac Williams, of all people.

It was a Tony Dungy era kind of score. It was 10-10 at the half and lo and behold, 17-13 going into the final 15 minutes with the Bucs ahead. First time all year they weren't behind.

Things were really going Tampa's way when Jason Elam missed a short field goal attempt with 6:30 left. Yes, it looked like Morris' first road win was in the offing. All that stood between the Bucs and victory was 60 yards and two and a half minutes. Surely the defense would hold up.

Redman moved the Falcons to the Bucs 10 with but 49 seconds left. The Falcons would have not one or two or three but SEVEN shots at the end zone. And that five-yarder to White was the lethal blow.

Surely the Bucs deserved better.

They regained respect because the defense did not get wiped all over the turf. The defense was solid. It was proud. It was not the embarrassment that Bates had saddled the team with for 10 weeks.

Which begs the final question: why did Raheem do this to us? Why didn't he take over sooner?

This entire mess could have been avoided had he only stayed the defensive coordinator and not the head coach.

But now, perhaps he can remain as both.