Like virtually his entire fan base, Bucs coach Bruce Arians took exception to the roughing-the-passer penalty leveled against Jason Pierre-Paul in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s 27-24 loss to the Chiefs.But just how detrimental it was to Tampa Bay’s ability to rally remains a subject of far greater debate.With the Chiefs facing third-and-17 from the Bucs 48 and leading by 10, Pierre-Paul was flagged when his left arm smacked the right arm — then helmet — of Patrick Mahomes, whose throw under duress was picked off by Sean Murphy-Bunting.“I thought he hit (Mahomes’) arm, and the arm came over to the top of his helmet,” Arians said. “Exact rule, it’s supposed to be a forcible blow. I didn’t think it was a forcible blow.”Arians said the penalty and negated interception, which occurred with 8:08 remaining, cost the Bucs three minutes and 40 seconds. However, his team eventually forced a punt on the drive and got the ball back with 6:21 to play, meaning it cost Tampa Bay only 1:47 of actual game time.The Bucs answered with a 10-play touchdown drive that consumed only two minutes, 11 seconds. But they never got the ball back, as the Chiefs picked up three first downs — two via Mahomes scrambles — to seal things.“Early in the game he wasn’t looking to scramble so much, but when the game was on the line he was looking to make that play for his team and just put it all on the line,” Bucs linebacker Devin White said. “I applaud him, but at the end of the day, we have to find a way to get it done.”
![Joey Knight - Bucs Reporter](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 50 50"/%3E "Joey Knight - Bucs Reporter")