TAMPA, Fla. — Panthers head coach Dave Canales kept coming back to those two words, over and over.

"Missed opportunities."

For whatever else happened Saturday afternoon, and happens tomorrow in Atlanta, the Panthers will rue the things within their control that didn't go right in the 16-14 loss to the Buccaneers at Raymond James Stadium.

Two turnovers, on a Bryce Young interception, and a fumble on an "aggressive" flea flicker call in the red zone. Converting just 1-of-8 third-down attempts, which left them with just 49 offensive plays. And 14 rushing attempts for 19 yards, as they literally and figuratively struggled to find their footing on the soggy ground, or the playoff chase.

"Yeah, missed opportunities, absolutely, " Canales said. "These are the championship moments that we live for, that we prepare for, that we talk about, and to not be able to get that done, to not be able to play our best football in these moments, certainly that's what we're all disappointed about, the whole group together.

"We have to find a way to be able to play in these types of games, and I'm really excited about our group. I'm really excited about the different pieces that we're getting going, and I told the group, we don't ever have to feel this way again. We can build from this. We have to take the next steps and make sure that we show up with a championship mindset."

Showing up with a more consistent run game would help, as a season-long trend continued Saturday night in the rain, when the weather was begging for a run game.

The Panthers have averaged 23.0 rushing attempts per game in their nine losses, and 31.8 in their eight wins.

Of course, waiting until the second half to convert their first third down was a big part of that, as the Bucs made them one-dimensional.

"The Bucs played us really well; we didn't block them good enough, they disrupted us up front," Canales said. "They fit their gaps and made sure we were getting, you know, 1s, 2s, and 3s, and just really stopped our run game, and so we had to do some other things and try to make some yards.

"Weather was certainly a factor, but it was weather for the Bucs too, and they found a way to execute, and we didn't."

It seemed to come into play on the pivotal down for the Panthers.

On first-and-10 from the Bucs 20 early in the first quarter, trailing 16-7, the Panthers attempted a flea flicker, which Canales said was "aggressive" but appropriate, since the Bucs were showing a single high safety. But Rico Dowdle slipped and tried tossing it back to Young as he fell, but Young tried to pick it up and make something happen, and the Bucs recovered.

"It's one of those freak plays, you lose your balance as you're tossing the ball back," Young said. "That's one of those freak plays that it's not a football thing that normally happens. So, try getting the ball, try to pick it up, then get on it, didn't get that. It's just an unfortunate, unfortunate thing, part of the game, just an unfortunate break.

"I think probably natural instinct was to try to pick it up, and then, it wasn't what happened. Obviously, in hindsight, the ball touched my hands; it should have ended there, so I take all the ownership for that."

Canales didn't want to delve into the number of controversial officiating decisions, falling back on the fact that when his team had chances to make plays, they didn't.

The passing game began to click in the second half, and Young finished with 266 passing yards and two touchdowns, with an early interception.

He was able to hit rookie Tetairoa McMillan downfield several times, one for 40 yards to set up Jale Coker's touchdown, and once for 31 that was waved off for a perhaps questionable offensive pass interference.

But that came a little too late, and now the Panthers are forced to wait to see if the Falcons can do them a favor tomorrow.

"I think we just found our rhythm a little bit," Young said. "People around me did a great job; obviously, you want to be able to have that for all four quarters. So I take ownership of that and do a better job, and facilitate making something happen so it can be consistent.

"But it wasn't, it wasn't enough today."