By Don Stone - Football
Atlanta
When the NFL Network and CBS were putting
together their new combined schedule for this season, they had to be excited
at the first two matchups, Green Bay at the Super Bowl champs, Seattle and
Pittsburgh against the previous Super Bowl champ, Ravens.
Then there's game three. The Falcons, coming off a 4-12
season after winning their opener in dramatic fashion against the Saints,
get pummeled last week at Cincinnati. Their opponent, division rival Tampa
Bay, who also finished 2013 at 4-12. And they haven't won since with an 0-2
start.
There is much grumbling in central Florida about the lack of
results with a new head coach, Lovie Smith.
The team's health has probably contributed to its poor start. DE Adrian
Clayborn and CB Mike Jenkins
are on injured reserve. DE Michael
Johnson and TE Austin Seferian-Jenkins
missed last week's loss with the Rams. Star DE Gerald McCoy,
RB Doug Martin and LB Mason
Foster were hurt in that game and both will
miss this game. The absence of McCoy has to make Falcons' QB Matt
Ryan's eyes water.
Atlanta was decimated last year with injuries, which many
feel was the primary reason for the team's problems. This year has been
better, but still a few dings to talk about. LB Sean Weatherspoon
and OT Sam Baker will miss the whole
season. First round draft pick, Jake Matthews,
missed last week's game but will suit up against the Bucs. Roddy
White is inactive for the game nursing a
hamstring but the offense should be able to rise above it with talents like
Julio Jones, Harry Douglas and
Devin Hester to feed the ball to.
Both teams playing on a short week and coming off losses looked
like they would be highly motivated to turn things around, especially with
it being a division game. "Any time you play in the division, we talk about
it counts one-plus," Ryan said.
Apparently one team was and one team wasn't.
On the first play, instead of the standard handoff to Steven
Jackson, Ryan hit Jones up the middle for 11.
Another big completion to FB Patrick DiMarco
with his first catch of the season to the TB
36. Then, quickly to Jones into the red zone to the 11. Jackson got a hard
fought eight. A wide open Douglas finished the impressive drive to put
Atlanta up 7-0 with just three minutes gone on the clock.
The kickoff would have pinned Tampa Bay on their 17 but a facemask call
got them to the 30. To no avail as the defense held them to a three and out.
Hester gave the crowd a thrill taking it all the way to the TB35.
Unfortunately, offsetting penalties forced a rekick, which went out at the
25, a difference of 40 yards. Ryan started quickly with a nine yard shot to
Jones at the 34. After Jackson converted, he exploded for 13 to midfield.
With Tony Gonzalez watching on the
sidelines, TE Levine Tollolo took one
at the TB 36. Then a bizarre play as a wide open Tollolo caught the pass at
the 28, then coughed it up only to have the defense give it back for a new
set of downs at the 37. Jackson broke free for 8 more to the 25. DiMarco got
in on the action again with a six yard catch. Jackson picked up another
first with a 7 yard rush to the 8. Jones pulled one down in the back of the
end zone for another score, 14-0. The extra point tied Matt Bryant
for second in total Falcons points with Mick Luckhurst.
The game got worse for the Bucs as QB Josh McCown
threw a pick six to safety Kemal Ishmael
to make it 21-0, tying a team record for the most points scored in a first
quarter, done to against these Bucs back in 2012.
Tampa Bay finally had a play work with a 15 yard completion to RB
Bobby Rainey, who proceeded to have the ball
stripped by LB Paul Worrilow. The
Falcons would start still another drive at the TB30. After a sack, Jones
pulled in a 17 yard catch on a third and 17 to make it first and ten as the
game moved into the second quarter. On the next play a handoff to Hester got
them 7 more to make it an amazing 28-0.
The points were piling up faster than a John Rocker
accidental insult. I mention the former
Braves' closer because he was on the sidelines with beard before the game as
a guest of CBS where he premiers next Wednesday as a contestant on
Survivor.
Gonzalez, now part of the CBS team, had said in a 680 The Fan morning
show interview that, after speaking with the Tampa Bay coaching staff that
they felt their team was about to explode. I don't think this is what he
meant.
On a third and ten, Jones got his team a first down with a 20 yard
reception at the TB42. Douglas picked up 11 more to the 29. Julio snatched
one in the middle of a crowd for 18 more into the red zone. Antone
Smith took a catch to the two but fumbled to
give Tampa Bay its first positive play of the game. But positive turned into
negative as they could only muster four yards and had to punt. A nice 56
yard kick was taken to the house on an electrifying 62 yard return by
Hester, 35-0. That was his 20th total TD returns, putting him first all time
in NFL history passing Deion Sanders,
who saw his record broken from the sidelines. A shot of a smiling arms up
Deion drew a thundering ovation from the crowd.
Problems continued for the visitors as they drew a personal foul on the
kickoff moving them back to the 18. What was this? A play that went right
with no penalties or fumbles for the Bucs. Yep. A 36 yard completion to WR
Mike Evans into Falcons territory for
the first time. But, of course, two plays later, Atlanta got its first sack
of the season at the 45. TB had to punt. McCown would injure his thumb on
the drive and not return.
The Falcons began their next drive, a sloppy one, at the 11. A handful of
penalties also saw Douglas sustain a foot injury and helped off the field to
the locker room. Atlanta punted for the first time. Starting at their best
field position at the AF 47, Mike Glennon
took over at QB. Glennon was able to get his
team an uncharacteristic first down at the 36 before seeing the Falcons get
their second sack.
The Bucs would fail on a third down for the sixth time in seven
tries.
Hester would pull up lame and be taken to the locker room as well. That's
where the half ended. Atlanta would have 300 net yards to Tampa Bay's 63
leading in passing yards 215 to 55. Jones would have 121 or half of the
team's yards in the air.
Glennon would convert a third down with a 19 yard run to the 44.
But the butterfingers appeared again with LB Joplo Bartu
recovering. But Devonte Freeman, with
his first touch, fumbled it away at the TB 43.
A personal foul pretty much snuffed their drive with still another
punt to Hester, who had returned to the game. He reintroduced himself with
another sparkling return to the TB 38 that was brought back on an illegal
block. But Ryan continued to crank out the stats with an 82 yard drive
culminating in a 40 yard Jones TD catch. 42-0. That gave him 161 yards, his
second highest single mark for his career.
Before I could finish typing, the Bucs fumbled again, this time at
their two. I had to look closely to make sure that Wake Forest hadn't snuck
onto the field. Not sure there would be much difference in the score against
the Demon Deacons. Actually, the zero on the board might be more like the
Braves.
One play later, a persistent Jackson plowed in for more to make it
49-0.
More penalties by the visitors on the next drive. Actually, its
dizzying to try to compute how many yards they have lost with penalties and
turnovers. Another punt.
A friend from New Orleans texted, "can Tampa Bay be any worse?" I
responded that the Saints had the same 0-2 record as them coming in. But,
consolation that they still had two games to play with the hapless Bucs.
TJ Yates took over for Ryan who
finished with 21-24 for 286 yards and 3 TDs. A passer rating of 155.9. The
87.5% completion ratio set a new Falcons record.
Yates immediately hit Eric Weems
for 40 yards to the TB 36. Smith did some more of his long distance
magic by skirting to the outside for 48 yards and another score. 56-0.
It seems like it took forever for the fourth quarter to get here. But, I
imagine it seemed a lot longer on the visitor's sideline. The crowd had
understandably trimmed down about 60%. Undoubtedly much more than that for
the CBS audience. Maybe I'll tune into Tampa Bay sports talk radio in the
morning. Should be pretty entertaining.
You would have to do some research to find an easy win like this in the
Falcons’ recent past. Atlanta’s only four wins last season were by margins
of 7, 8, 3 and 1. Go back 20 games to December 12 of the 2012 season to find
one with a sizeable difference as the Falcons handled Detroit 31-18 and the
week before when they shutout the Giants 34-0.
The backups littered the field by this time with Tampa Bay's doing a bit
better. There were two shutouts in this game. The Bucs reserves skunked the
Falcons' reserves 14-0. But, where it counts, Atlanta's starters put a goose
egg on the Tampa Bay starters 56-0. After that, it was mostly second and
third string playing the whole fourth quarter. Final score Atlanta wins big
56-14.
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