AP

The Buccaneers had plenty of time to think about how they were going to handle their two-minute drill.

But they apparently wasted the 69-minute lightning delay, as well as precious seconds of yesterday’s loss to the Rams.

When the Bucs took over after the delay, they had the ball at their own 44, but quickly drove to the Rams’ 27 with 49 seconds left. But then a short pass to running back Charles Sims gained 12 yards, but he didn’t get out of bounds and coach Dirk Koetter didn’t call the first of the two timeouts he had left.

“Yeah, there was an opportunity [to call timeout],” Koetter said, via Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times. “I got a lot of confidence in our two-minute [drill], and I sometimes push the envelope on that, on getting to the next play. I thought we were slow getting lined up on that next one. I thought we still had time to check it down again and use it. But as it worked out, we were a little slow, so I probably should’ve used [the timeout] there.”

Instead, another 23 seconds rolled off the clock, which could have been at least two more plays. The game ended with an awkward Jameis Winston scramble and pump-fake, even though he was past the line of scrimmage and couldn’t throw.

“I was just trying to bait them and get closer to the end zone,” Winston said. “In that moment, I’ve just got to give somebody a chance in the end zone. That was just dumb on my part.”

Of course, his coach still has one of those timeouts in his pocket, in case they want to pause today to decide how best to give themselves a chance next time.