Buccaneers’ Tristan Wirfs can’t believe 'insane' collapse vs. Falcons

Even when the Tampa Bay Buccaneers were winning in the first half of the season, the cracks were evident. Baker Mayfield was forced to scramble his way into one game-winning drive after another, an approach that is extremely hard to sustain. The Bucs’ weaknesses and injury woes have caught up to them and resulted in a sharp decline. Despite their limitations, there is no excusing what has happened in the last five days.

Following a ghastly 24-20 loss to the last-place New Orleans Saints on Sunday, Tampa Bay once again failed to protect its house in an NFC South matchup. The Buccaneers blew a two-possession lead in the fourth quarter and fell to the Atlanta Falcons, 29-28, via a 43-yard field goal. Kirk Cousins took a swig from the Fountain of Youth, and then Tampa’s defense gave him a couple more sips.

Falcons tight end Kyle Pitts enjoyed the best game of his NFL career, Mayfield threw a costly interception and the Bucs employed questionable clock management down the stretch. The team’s throwback Creamsicle uniforms, which players wore during the franchise’s ugly infancy, looked all too fitting on this night. All-Pro left tackle Tristan Wirfs struggled to comprehend the collapse during an NSFW postgame interview.

“I don’t know… that was f------ insane,” he told reporters, per Fox Sports’ Greg Auman. Wirfs missed the Saints game due to an oblique injury, but he got to witness this train wreck up close. Although divisional battles can be unpredictable, Tampa hosted a subpar opponent inside Raymond James Stadium in back-to-back matchups, and it slipped on the proverbial banana peel on both occasions.