Leading 14-3 at halftime over the 10-2 New Orleans Saints, the Bucs let that lead slip away in the second half. It was night and day between both halves, as a blocked punt in the third quarter swung the momentum in the Saints direction, who never looked back while Tampa lost their footing. Cairo Santos missed two field goals, while the Bucs offense couldn’t get anything going during the third and fourth quarters, and Jameis Winston was hit constantly. This squandered another fantastic effort by the defense, who had two turnovers, but wore down later on as they kept being put on the field from stalled drives. Head coach Dirk Koetter discussed the Bucs 28-14 loss after the game was over.

(On if the Saints defense was just that good in the second half)
“Well they were better than us in the second half, there’s no question. We couldn’t get anything going on offense and 14 points isn’t going to do it against the Saints.”

(On the momentum change from the blocked punt)
“Yeah, that was a momentum change. We had other chances, but that was definitely a big play.”

(On if the offense only getting three first downs in the second half and keeping the defense on the field contributed to them being as tired as they were)
“No doubt, our defense was on the field way too much in the second half. We had I think 16, almost 17 minutes of possession in the first half and like 12 in the second half. Again, that’s just not going to work against the Saints, they totally shut us down in the second half. So, we couldn’t score points, 14 is not enough, and our defense on the field too much.”

(On the missed field goals causing the Bucs to lose momentum and control of the game)
“Well there’s several plays in the game, the blocked punt, we had a golden opportunity right there in the first drive of the second half. That was a beautiful strip sack, the ball came out, and we had a chance to get seven or three and we got zero.”

(On if he spoke with Ryan Jensen or Jameis Winston about the spat they had with each other)
“No, I didn’t.”

(On if penalties have been something that plagued the Bucs)
“Today, yeah definitely. We had way too many holding penalties, that killed us. We had a stretch there where we had a bunch of penalties right there in a row, we just got dominated in the second half. We got shut down, we haven’t been shut down like that in a long time.”

(On if he felt that they were letting the Saints hang around)
“No, I mean we scored right before the half to get the lead, and then you can’t miss opportunities like we did on the first drive of the third quarter. You know it’s going to be a hard fought game.”

(On Chris Godwin’s tough day, if the Saints specifically tried to take him away)
“No, we missed him a couple of times and he had to leave his feet for a couple catches, but they played tight coverage on all of our guys all day, they had their guys right up on us and we anticipated that’s how they’d play. They’re an aggressive defense, that’s why they’re ranked how they are on defense. We’ve played fine against that type of coverage in the past, be we couldn’t shake them today, and we didn’t protect good enough and we didn’t complete enough balls. We were less than 50 percent of completions, so, a combination of all of that stuff is not good enough on offense.”

(On if the field goal misses could have been because field conditions, or if Santos just missed it)
“Just missed it. The field was the same for everybody.”

(On what he thought about Jameis Winston’s performance in the game today)
“I didn’t think Jameis was as sharp as he’s been over the last two weeks, but he also didn’t turn the ball over. We were plus two in turnovers as far as offense-defense, the blocked punt, the blocked punt is a huge one. Jameis was under duress all game, Jameis got hit too many times today, we can’t have quarterback get that many times, whether it’s scrambling, running, four sacks, I mean, we can’t get him hit that much.”

(On if the Saints defense brought more pressure in the second half)
“No, they played the way that they’ve been playing, which is good. They got a really good defense.”

(On the defense only letting up three rush yards in the first half)
“Our defense was fantastic in the first half. We just had them on the field too much in the second half. Again, they served us up a golden opportunity in the second half.”

(On the struggling run game)
“Well we struggled on offense, period. We never struggled like that in our passing game. We had over 100 yards rushing today, but we struggled in the passing game, so, we’re one of the best passing teams in the league, and we weren’t today.”

(On after the deep pass to Mike Evans, if the Saints played the same coverage and just did a better job)
“Yeah they mixed their coverages today, but the same coverage that they played on that long one to Mike, that’s their base coverage.”