Plucky Bucs nearly pull off another stunner in Atlanta

They're not the best team in the NFC, or even the best team in the NFC South -- or even the second best team in the NFC South.

But give the Tampa Bay Buccaneers a "P" for pluck.

Give them the "L," too, a 27-21 setback to the Atlanta Falcons.

Onside kick after a kickoff return for a touchdown?

Sure, why not?

Raheem Morris and his young Bucs seemed inches away from a stunner.

Only the football just grazed kicker Connor Barth's leg as he went into his slide and grabbed it for possession. The official signaled Bucs ball.

Challenge by Atlanta.

Reversal.

Atlanta ball -- the right call.

But you had to love that onside kick.

And that third-and-long pass from Josh Freeman out of his end zone, 43 yards to Michael Spurlock.

Sure, why not?

Freeman's two picks? Didn't like them so much. Bad decisions.

And they still nearly won.

They were tantalizingly close to 6-2.

They had it fourth and 1 at the Falcons' 2-yard line with under three minutes left.

They came up short. LeGarrett Blount came up short.

Four shots from the Atlanta 11 and the quarterback throws only one pass, and that one wasn't into the end zone?

I don't understand that.

The Bucs are 5-3 after half a season, a place where no one thought they would be, except for Raheem Morris and his young team. I had them at 3-5, maybe 2-6. They've exceeded expectations.

They're still in search of that signature win this 2010 season, that kind of announcement, with authority, that they're really for real.

They didn't come close to getting it at home against Pittsburgh and New Orleans, and they didn't get it Sunday in Atlanta, either, losing to the Falcons in a first-place kind of game at the Georgia Dome.

But somehow, they hung in this game.

After three quarters, the Falcons had 337 yards of offense and 24 first downs. The Bucs had only 182 yards and nine first downs.

And the Bucs were down just six points.

The Bucs defense at times looked like one ranked 25th in the NFL, which is just about right when it forces no turnovers.

And Bucs offensive coordinator Greg Olson picked one hell of a bad time to go with an empty backfield, on third and 5 from the Bucs 30 to start the second half.

And Freeman picked one hell of time to throw his first interception in a month, that awful, wounded duck jump ball that Atlanta picked off.

He had no reason to throw that ball, sack or no sack.

Seven plays later, the Falcons were in the end zone and it was 24-14.

But the Bucs kept hanging in Sunday.

Atlanta began this game as if it aimed to inhale the pretenders, opening the game with a 13-play touchdown drive.

They topped that with -- get this -- a 99-yard drive to make it 14-0 early in the second quarter. Ronde Barber got burned on a long ball.

Michael Turner pushed Aqib Talib as he busted into the end zone on a 10-yard run. The Bucs defense gave up a whopping 235 yards in the first half.

Still, they tried to hang in there. Freeman threw a pair of touchdown passes to keep it close, the first to Arrelious Benn, the second to Mike Williams, who burned a Falcons blitz with a shallow slant he turned into a 58-yard touchdown.

Truly, it's never a bad thing when your 22-year-old quarterback throws two touchdowns to rookie wide receivers in the first half.

And this crew plays hard for Morris. The Falcons couldn't even completely bury them at 27-14 late in the third quarter, because Michael Spurlock, whose long punt return earlier in the game set up the Bucs' first score, fielded a kickoff that Maurice Stovall muffed and emerged from a scramble and went down the side for 89 yards. And the Bucs were down just 27-21.

That's when Morris and his special teams went for it with the onside kick.

Sure, why not?

They caught the Falcons off guard. They caught everyone off guard.

They've been doing that all season, really.

The reality is, and always was, that these Bucs are a work in progress, and as much progress as there has been since 3-13, they're not close to being there yet.

But I loved that onside kick call, absolutely loved it.

These guys will not back down, even when seemingly outmatched.

Is that ever a bad thing?

The Bucs are 5-3.

They came up short, but at least they kept coming.

I still would have liked Freeman to have thrown the ball down near the goal line, to Mike Williams, to anyone in the end zone.

But it still beats 3-5, or 2-6, doesn't it?