TAMPA, Fla. – No Chris Godwin, no Mike Evans – and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers had another big day offensively.

Instead, a normally reliable defense that seemed to deteriorate as the season progressed cost the Bucs (4-4) a game 31-26 loss to the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday.

“It starts with me. It starts with the defensive coaches, and it starts with the players. We have to play better,” Bowles said, reflecting on a stretch in which the Bucs — a top-10 defense a year ago when the Bucs won a third straight NFC South title — gave up 27 points or more in four consecutive games. games.

“We have to fix it. No one is going to come and save us,” Bowles added. “We need to do a much better job than what we’re doing, and it starts with me.”

In their first game since losing Godwin to season-ending ankle surgery and Evans to a hamstring injury for at least three games, the Bucs still threw for 394 yards in total attack. They gained 1,469 yards over the last three weeks, but lost two of those games and fell out of first place in the division.

The Falcons finished with 432 yards of total offense, with Kirk Cousins ​​throwing for 276 yards and four touchdowns with no interceptions to beat the Bucs for the second time in less than a month. On October 3 in Atlanta, he passed for a career-high 509 yards with four touchdowns to beat Tampa Bay 36-30 in overtime.

The Bucs have lost four of six after a 2-0 start. Sunday’s loss dropped them to 2-3 at home.

Bowles was asked what he said to his players after the game.

“I said we have to solve our problems. The problems are in the locker room, but the answers are in the locker room,” Bowles said. “From coaches to players, we have to stay together. We have to repair ourselves and we have to move.

It won’t be easy, especially without their two best playmakers on offense.

The Bucs will travel to Kansas City to face the defending Super Bowl champion Chiefs next Monday night. Then they return home the next day to face last season’s Super Bowl runners-up, the San Francisco 49ers.