Six-time Pro Bowl Bucs defensive tackle Gerald McCoy has become quite an unofficial team ambassador in recent years.
The NFL Network personality/analyst is always waving his Bucs flag, but McCoy can still keep it real.
That defensive mess in Atlanta on Thursday night? It brought out the raw Bucs fan in McCoy, as shared on the NFL’s NFL Daily podcast.
“We wouldn’t make the proper adjustments. I don’t know what the heck we was doing,” McCoy said of the Bucs defense. “[Kirk Cousins] was finding those holes in our zone all night. All night. If we watch what he just did a couple of weeks ago to Philly, same thing.”
McCoy confessed that when Atlanta got the ball on its 20 yard line with no timeouts needing a field goal to tie the game with 1:14 remaining, he had no confidence the Bucs defense would step up.
Even after the defense dominated Atlanta on a 4-and-out on the prior drive, with big plays from Logan Hall, YaYa Diaby and Lavonte David, McCoy saw Cousins ready to resume his night of carving up the Bucs defense.
“He never was made uncomfortable, McCoy said.
“The Bucs struggle to rush with four … you’re not playing zone in the back end or great in the back end, you’ll get picked apart. You shouldn’t be able to throw that many times from the pocket and be able to pick somebody apart.”
McCoy also ranted about how the Bucs (Jamel Dean) got off Drake London too soon when he caught the ball over the middle with 8 seconds remaining.
“Just hold him, just lay on him,” McCoy pleaded, noting that laying on a player for 2 or 3 seconds after a play is never called.
McCoy called that just another necessary thing the Bucs didn’t do.
Dean popped off London in less than one second and the Falcons regrouped to the spike the ball with 1 second remaining, setting up the overtime-forcing field goal.
